Reptilia Draco
by grandSolovey
Summary: Two Digidestined in London discover a group named Hypnos, as well as similar organizations all over the world...and find themselves pulled into a fight to save both the digital and real worlds.
1. The Threadfall Proposal

****

DISCLAIMER: Let's see…first off, I don't own Digimon. However, Anne Connor, Jonathan Dowd, Kamemon and his evos, all the members of the Alliance (except Yamaki), and the woman are all my characters. William Parry is also my character, but I got the name from _His Dark Materials_. This fic also has a few strong Dragonriders of Pern influences, and I don't own that, either. And, so as not to give things away, I'll be including a disclaimer in EVERY chapter. Yayses.

* * *

A tall woman with long, brunette hair passed a security guard in the doorway. He did not flinch, nor check her ID.

"Good afternoon, Riley," he merely grunted, and returned to his post. She nodded slightly, and continued to the fourth floor. She stopped in the middle of the hallway and took out some sort of a device. She tapped something on the side, and immediately the illusion of Riley disappeared. She instead had shoulder-length, black hair with natural blond highlights. She looked up to the ceiling and noticed a heating grate. The woman smiled, wrenched it open, and hid in the shaft. The screen of the device glowed as the heating grate returned to its proper state, no longer tampered with—except for the fact that she was in it.

The device made a sort of whirring noise as words flicked across the screen.

****

ARE YOU THERE?

She stated mentally, "Yes. How long do I need to wait?" At once, the words appeared on the screen.

****

I WILL LET YOU KNOW WHEN IT IS TIME.

Her mortal self sighed. That would mean a long wait. She brushed away a golden lock of hair as the hours dragged on.

* * *

"Watch out!"

The bike wove through the crowded sidewalk, haphazardly dodging people. Anne bit her lip as it darted through the packed Bedford Street. Sooner or later, she was going to run into someone. "Can't you go any slower?!" she protested. A voice that appeared to be coming from the bike replied, "I don't know how!" Anne groaned and clutched the handlebars for dear life. The "bike" was actually a Digimon, called Kamemon, and she was its tamer.

"Left!" she shouted, trying to point Kamemon in the correct direction of Jonathan's house. Jonathan was a computer master and could hack into any computer in London—maybe even the entire world. He, too, was a tamer, his Digimon being Penmon. The bike—Kamemon—swerved out of the way of a young child and turned a sharp left. It was like trying to hold onto a bucking bronco. After several minutes, they reached the small house Jonathan called home. The bike transformed into a large, green lizard standing upright with a frill on its head and cat-like ears. It then turned into a small rucksack and Anne walked in, upstairs to his room. "Hello?" she asked, peering into the room.

"AAH! …Oh, it's only you, Anne. Hullo." The startled expression on his face was clearly visible even after the shock, along with his tousled brown hair. Penmon, who had been acting as a stuffed animal, immediately hopped down from a chair beside a monstrous computer and said enthusiastically, "Kamemon! You here?"

The rucksack slid out of Anne's grip and transformed into the over-sized lizard known as Kamemon. "Penmon!" he said, then transformed into a Muchomon. The two started laughing as Anne made her way to the computer. She looked at the screen and asked, "What's up in the rest of the world?"

"Nothing interesting," said Jonathan, leaning back. But he instantly snapped up again and yelped, "Oh, crap, I almost forgot! You MUST see this." He began one of his hacking sessions, which, strangely, took a lot shorter than most other times. "This is really weird, from Japan. I was looking around and I noticed something about Digimon."

"And what's so special about that?" questioned Anne. "Digimon WAS invented there, you know."

"You'll see," he said, a slight look of apprehension crossing his face. He usually grinned at a time like this, which made it odd. Then, a page written entirely in kanji was pulled up. "I know, it's in Japanese, but I've got the translated version. Here…" He clicked something and it was replaced with the entire thing in English. He backed away as Anne got in for a closer look. Up at the top, it had "ACTIVITY LOG". Below that, it had several dates and other bits of information. Suddenly, the word "Digimon" showed up. What was that doing there? She read the info below it.

27/08/01

Digimon detected

Yuggoth activated

Anomaly destroyed

"What?!" she cried. " 'Anomaly destroyed'?! They destroyed a Digimon? …Why?"

Jonathan nodded and said, "My thoughts exactly. See what else they have." She scrolled down the list.

04/09/01

Digimon retrieved

Scan successful

Data destroyed

She felt her stomach churn. She didn't like this, not at all. Whoever these freaks were, they apparently had something against Digimon. Nevertheless, curiosity forced her to continue down the page.

06/09/01

Project Juggernaut tested

Unsuccessful

294 anomalies destroyed

This was murder. Cold-blooded, pure murder. She felt her heart pound with rage. But what did it mean, "unsuccessful"? It definitely succeeded in killing 294 Digimon, was it supposed to do 300?!

"Get a load of this," said Jonathan, sliding back into his position. He typed something in, and instantly a bunch of small, blue and white dots appeared on the screen. "Recognize that?" he asked.

She looked closer. She'd been in enough battles to know what that was. "Data," she said, still looking at the screen. "A Digimon's data."

"Exactly," he said. "Oy, Penmon, c'mere. What's this?" Penmon waddled over and climbed up on the bed to see the screen. Then he gave a little yelp and fell on the floor. He gasped, "That's a Digimon! Where'd you…" Kamemon peered at the screen and concluded, "It looks sort of like a, uh…whachamacallit, DarkLizamon. What's so bad about that?"

"They scanned its data," explained Jonathan, "and destroyed the leftovers. Quite a waste, if you ask me." Suddenly, something started beeping. Two things, actually. Anne got out her D-Power, and so did Jonathan. "Another Digimon," he groaned disappointedly.

"What's the matter with you?" said Anne, chancing a smile and darting out the door with Kamemon—Kamemon being in a different form, that is.

* * *

"But I don't get it, what should we do?"

Yamaki growled. "For the last time, we leave them to their own devices. It's their problem, not ours." The man he was talking to seemed worried. A person from the newly created British organization, the Thread, had reported several incidents concerning Digimon in London. Like he said, it was only Hypnos' problem if the incidents were anywhere near Tokyo. Obviously, this twit couldn't seem to get that through his head.

"But…" he continued. "Are you sure?"

Yamaki was plenty annoyed by now. He suddenly turned and grabbed the man by the collar. "Listen," he seethed. "We have nothing to do with the rest of the world. Hypnos ONLY does its duties for Japan, not Germany, not France, and ESPECIALLY not America! Get that through your empty head!" He released him and continued down the hall, the other man staying behind. He could certainly make an impression when he was mad. And those conceited Americans, thinking they were all high and mighty because there had supposedly been absolutely no reports of Digimon there yet. Yet. He frowned slightly, knowing exactly how much success Hypnos had had with keeping the public from knowing anything that Digimon were real. But, then again, who would believe the words of a child? His anxiety eased a little, but would return again soon.

__

"Wake up," soothed a mysterious voice in her head. _"There is something you need to hear."_

She snapped up immediately, and just as soon regretted it due to the fact she was cramped up in that little chute. Her head smacked against the top of it. She hissed in pain, biting her tongue so hard she might've bitten it off. She took out the communicator and it glowed, giving her directions through the building to apparently wherever she was supposed to be. But it couldn't possibly be the mission—she didn't know why. She traveled down the cramped corridor until she heard voices drifting down the chute. The word **STOP** appeared on the communicator and she obeyed, listening in on the conversation.

"…Status?"

A voice with a German accent replied, "A few sightings, but easily covered up by explaining they must've been intoxicated at the time. Quite an advantage to our nation, no?"

"Erm, yes, quite… All right, Thread. Status?"

This time, a British accent answered. "Like he said, just a few. Just not so easily covered up. There are, however, some difficulties."

"Good. CIA, your status."

A haughty American accent replied. "None."

Suddenly, a French voice protested, "C'est impossible! How can that be?"

"I guess we've just had a bit more luck than you." Then he hesitated. "Especially one person…"

"All right, that's enough. Hypnos, status?"

There was silence. Then, someone said, "We, er, have managed to cover up several incidents. But we have our…difficulties."

The American casually replied before the other person, the one who had been asking their status. "Difficulties? Like the fact that everyone in Tokyo saw the Juggernaut?"

"That was a fluke! It was a simple, tactical error, and it will never happen again."

"Oh, sure, and how will you explain that gaping hole in the sky? Something as pathetic as, 'Pacific currents'? You people make me laugh. It's a wonder—"

"All right, that's enough," interrupted the other man (whom we'll refer to as the "caller"). "Let's get to business. William, you have a new proposal?"

"Yes," replied the British voice. "I know that the Thread is new, but I just couldn't help myself…" There was a rustling of papers and a sound of approval from the "caller".

"This looks nice…what d'you call it?"

"The anti-data barrier, sir. It fully repels any source of bio-emerged data, such as a Digimon, but it also destroys it in the process. But, I'm afraid it is only a defensive program…"

"Oh, never mind that, we'll test it. And, I suppose you have a new one as well, Yamaki…"

This time, the one who had responded when the "caller" asked Hypnos' status replied. "It is not what you think. It is, with all due respect, more effective than Yuggoth, or Juggernaut, for that matter."

"And what is it called?"

"Threadfall."

The one called William interrupted. "McCaffrey, eh? Not exactly original—"

"Will you listen? It is essentially the only way to describe how it works. And it is also mere coincidence that it bears part of the name of your organization, Mr. Parry."

"How does it work, anyway?"

"It seeks out the anomaly, rather than attracting it." He said this with a slight sneer to his tone. "It also does not need to have been targeted previously. Once released, it will target the closest Digimon around, and begin the attack immediately. That is, unless it is already occupied by another Threadfall. It can effectively destroy the anomaly within minutes, possibly seconds. With just one Threadfall, we could easily cleanse an entire metropolis without the public knowing at all."

Someone whistled in astonishment. Then the American snapped, "But what effect will it have on other organisms?"

"None at all. The program can easily be covered up, if needed."

"This does sound rather intriguing," said the "caller", wisely settling a dispute before it could get any worse. "But you remember what happened last time with the Juggernaut."

"That was a fluke," he repeated. "This one will work. I promise."

"Now, see here," said the American. "Can we really trust you on this? You're not a very trustworthy person, and I know that this program will blow up in our face like the last two. This 'Threadfall' could be seriously dangerous to the public. If it can destroy a Digimon, what's to stop it from harming a human being?"

"It does no harm to living organisms! It passes right through them!"

"All right, ENOUGH!" said the "caller". "Must we endure this any longer? All right…anybody else disagree with the program?"

"Well," started the French, "zees 'Threadfall' does zound a tad bit powerful, but do we have a choice? I mean, it just might be zee thing we need…"

"I say ve do it," said a new voice, with a Russian accent. "It sounds like the perfect thing ve need to get rid of these infernal creatures."

There were other murmers of agreement. "Then it's settled," said the "caller". "We'll test this 'Threadfall' and see how it works. And if it doesn't, then there's no harm done, CORRECT? Right, then… Dismissed." Then there were sounds of people leaving the room.

She thought a minute. So, this thing she was looking for was called Threadfall. Good. At least she wouldn't have to search through tons of junk just to get to one thing. She smiled to herself, thinking about exactly how easily this mission was going along.

* * *

"I said right, RIGHT, not LEFT!" shouted Anne. She absolutely hated it when she had to ride on Kamemon the Bike, but the Digimon was in St. James Park, and the fastest way to get there without looking suspicious was on the "bike". Jonathan was on his own bike—lucky him—and decided it was time to take the lead. Kamemon obediently followed. It took about 10 more minutes to get there, where a Veedramon was waiting.

"Uh, hey, Anne," said Jonathan cautiously. "I think I'll, uh, just hang back on this one."

She groaned and said, "Fine, fine. Kamemon needs the data anyway." Then she took out her D-Power and a card. "DigiModify! Digivolution activate!"

Then Kamemon started to glow. "Kamemon, Digivolve toooooo… Nisamon!" Where Kamemon had been just moments before, there was now a silver dragon-like creature (without the wings), only about a few hands shorter than a horse. It was still as long as one, though. "Petit Dragon Blast!" it called out before emitting a blue bolt of energy from its mouth. The energy slammed into the Veedramon, but not quite defeating it.

"Right," said Anne. "Digimodify! Kyubimon's Dragon Wheel activate!"

Nisamon then leapt high into the air, about 10 feet above the Veedramon's head. The great blue monster looked skywards and Nisamon curled up and spun rapidly, turning into a blue fire. "Dragon Wheel!" he called, and descended onto the Veedramon, knocking it senseless.

"Finish it!" yelled Anne.

"Petit Dragon Blast!"

The Veedramon groaned in pain, and then dissolved into data, to be absorbed by Nisamon. Anne sighed in relief and said, "That wasn't too hard, was it?" Nisamon nodded in agreement and de-Digivolved back to Kamemon. Jonathan looked over his shoulder and said, "Let's get out of here before anyone notices. You never know who might be watching."

* * *

Yamaki walked out of the building, finally released from his tension. Threadfall would come along perfectly, and no one opposed it. Well, except for that American. Yes, the one who always tried to blame anything that went wrong on HIM. But, no matter. This time, he wouldn't have to be blamed for anything. He knew it.

An odd beeping penetrated his thinking. "Hm?" he wondered aloud. "What's this?" He took out a small controller of some sorts, which flashed, "WARNING – INTRUDER". It then turned on a small recorder, which caught the words, "What have we here…"

Oh, dear. He turned on his heel and set at a run straight back to the headquarters.

She was awakened by the whirring noise of the communicator. The words flicked across the screen.

****

IT IS TIME.

She snapped awake again and slowly slid out of the air duct. She glanced at a clock on the wall, which stated 11:02 PM. She started for the stairs, but slowed down a little by the elevator. How could it hurt? She had a long way to go, anyway.

When she reached the floor, she climbed the short set of stairs to the control room. "So," she thought, "this is what the place looks like after all." She was expecting a stuffy, white room like the ones at Cape Canaveral, but no, it was a domed room with two chairs set high up and a large computer over on the side. She walked over to it and slid a black disk into it. The computer started up immediately and she searched for the program, "Threadfall". At last, a complicated-looking program appeared on the screen. "Well, hello there," she said. "What have we here?" She began to download the program onto the disk immediately.

After about five minutes, it was finally done. The program closed out automatically. But only then did she notice a small window blinking "INTRUDER ALERT" in the corner.

"Oh, sh—"

BANG.


	2. Catfight in the Corridor

* * *

"So, Jonathan, why'd you back out?" asked Anne. "It's not like you to miss a battle."

He shrugged and said, "I dunno. I guess it just gets so…repetitive. I mean, we find a Digimon, Penmon Digivolves, we attack, it dies, Penmon absorbs its data, end of story. It gets kind of boring after a while."

Anne couldn't help but agree. It DID get sort of repetitive sometimes. "But," she thought as she saw Kamemon playing with Penmon, "at least Kamemon never gets boring." She then straightened up and said, "Oh, I don't think you know what you're missing, really…"

"What?" he said sharply. "What d'you mean by that?!"

"Maybe you'll just have to battle next time and find out for yourself." She often took great pleasure in teasing Jonathan.

"Oh…fine. I'll battle next time. Promise. Or my name's John Cleese."

"Well, who knows? Maybe you really are related to him." She couldn't help but grin at the look on his face and lay back down on the grass of St. James Park.

Jonathan was about to argue when something caught his eye. Penmon didn't look right. "Are you okay?" he called out to him. Penmon was looking at something in the sky. He then looked at Jonathan and said, "We shouldn't be here."

Anne looked skeptical but Kamemon had the same worried look. She started to say something but sighed and said, "Fine. See you later, Mr. Cleese."

"I AM NOT RELATED TO JOHN CLEESE!"

Anne lied on her bed, thinking. What was it that made Penmon act so strangely? And especially Kamemon. Something was up with the Digital World, she knew it. Come to think of it, the sky DID seem somewhat strange this morning…

"Kamemon?" she asked.

"What? Is something wrong?"

"No, not really… What did you see back at St. James Park?"

"I just didn't feel safe in that place. Like something was watching me, y'know? It was really weird."

"Oh, I see. Me and Jonathan were watching you, if that's what you meant—"

"No! I meant that something really, super, ultra-powerful was watching me! It was really intimidating, feeling like that, because when someone feels like that, something really, really bad happens to them!"

"But…what could possibly want to destroy you?"

Kamemon looked skywards again. "I don't know…but it definitely wants to destroy me."

* * *

Just seconds after she saw the blinking sign on the computer, a voice screamed in her head, "Get out of the way!" She didn't take time to ask why, but she heard a loud gunshot and something razed the spot where her head was moments before. It was time she shouldn't be here. She quickly glanced around and spotted someone in the stairway holding a smoking gun. She took her position on the floor as an advantage and ducked past whoever was in the stairwell—and painfully rolled down the stairs.

"GET BACK HERE!"

Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap. She had no time to think, she had to hurry, if she didn't hurry her head would get blown off, but she had to get the disk. Did she have the disk? Yes she had the disk. NOW GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE! Sooner or later, she was going to be shot, and if she was shot anywhere near her head, that would be bad—

A sudden pain streaked across her right arm as she heard another gunshot. Luckily, he only clipped her. She hissed in pain, but no more, for she had to stay ahead of him, no matter what. No doubt it was whoever owned the Threadfall program, which wasn't good, since he would be very mad, and she knew how mad some people could get, especially if something they owned was involved… Suddenly, there was a clicking noise. He'd finally run out of bullets! Now she might be able to get away safely…

"OH NO, YOU DON'T!"

She was wrong. With no other choice, the man discarded his gun and tackled her head on, sending both of them onto the floor and the disk flying. It was just a few inches away from a stairwell. She quickly reached for it, but the other guy got to it first… NO! She abruptly punched him hard in the chest, grabbed the disk, and suddenly they were both teetering on the edge of the stairwell. They both—painfully—tumbled down the stairs, sending the disk flying again to a safe landing at the bottom. She groaned in pain, but kicked him swiftly in the chest and yelled, "GET OFF!" Then she bolted away.

She started to take steps three, four at a time, anything to put enough distance between her and that other guy. He was not one to be toyed with, nosiree. At long last, she reached the doors, shoved them open, and nearly collapsed on the sidewalk. But she couldn't stay for long. She hadn't effectively knocked that person unconscious and she knew it. She breathlessly called for a taxi and hurriedly climbed into it when one came. "Take me to the nearest airport," she gasped. "Step on it!"

* * *

Anne woke with a start. The phone started ringing, right by her ear. She jumped up and glanced at the clock. 9:00 AM. She wearily picked up the receiver and answered, "Hullo?"

"Hey, Anne!" It was Jonathan. "Listen, sorry if I woke you up, but you HAVE to see this!"

"See what?" she replied. "And, yes, you did wake me up."

"Oh, just you wait, this is really weird! Just hurry up!" Click! He hung up. Anne stared at the phone for a few minutes and, groggily, got out of bed. After she got dressed, she found that Kamemon was already wide awake.

"Kamemon?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"Could you PLEASE try to be more careful this time?"

"This time what?"

"I need a lift to Jonathan's house."

"Okey-doke!"

When they finally got there, Anne swore her stomach was somewhere it wasn't supposed to be. She HATED going through Bedford Street, but it was the quickest way to get to Jonathan's house without risking your life in the busy London traffic. "What is it this time?" she protested.

"Well, you know that 'activity log' sort of thing I showed you yesterday?"

"Yes," she said coldly, remembering the sick, twisted things these people had done. "How could I forget?"

"It has something very interesting in it. Or, at least, I think YOU'LL think so." She groaned as she leaned in to get a closer look."

26/09/01

Digital anomaly detected in building

Project Threadfall accessed

Intruder detected

Project Threadfall successfully downloaded; foreign object

Foreign object? This probably meant something like a disk, or something. She easily recognized the name Threadfall as the periodical event in Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series. But "Project Threadfall"? Was this some new device they would use to destroy Digimon? And then there was the Digimon in the building. How could that happen? But there was something below it that caught her eye…

*WARNING*

Project Threadfall has just been stolen. If you have seen or heard anything suspicious on the night of September 25, 2001, report to Yamaki immediately. Those who know anything about the crime and do not report it SHALL BE PROSECUTED.

That seemed harsh. Somebody broke into these guys' headquarters and apparently stole something very important. Was that good or bad? Good, because that meant they wouldn't be able to use it. Bad, because somebody else might improve it. Or, even worse, it could be whoever was trying to destroy Kamemon… She just stared and said, "Oh. CRAP."

"What?" said Jonathan suddenly. "What's wrong?"

"Somebody's trying to destroy Kamemon. Maybe, whoever stole it…"

"Oh, relax. Why would anybody want to destroy someone as innocent as him?"

"You have a point."

"As always. Who d'you think Yamaki is?"

"How should I know? Judging by what it says, he might as well be a secretary—"

Suddenly, the screen blacked out. Jonathan jumped up and said, "What?! What the frig is going on?!" But, just as suddenly as it turned off, it turned back on again. Only, there was nothing but white on the screen. "I don't like this, not one bit…" Then words started to slowly appear on the screen. Anne and Jonathan glanced at each other and read what it said.

You ignorant fools. You really think you could just prance around our files without a care in the world, without our suspecting it. You're dead wrong. I should have perfect reason to believe you're just children with no idea what you're getting into. These foul creatures you call 'Digimon' are no more than data that know nothing but death. Or maybe you're the disgusting thief who tried her bet to eliminate me. Whoever you are, this is a warning. Hypnos is not to be taken lightly. I am no different. I advise you give up before we are forced to take matters into our own hands.

"Hypnos is not to be taken lightly…" repeated Anne, breaking the silence.

Jonathan looked worried. "Do you think…"

"Nah," she said. "The original place was Japanese anyway, so they must be somewhere in Japan. How could anybody in Japan be a threat to us while we're in London?"

"That's not what I meant. D'you think they might be the ones who are trying to kill Kamemon?"

Then she remembered with a jolt the conversation she had with Kamemon last night. "No… It—it couldn't be…"

"Don't deny it, Anne! You know it very well could be!"

That was the last thing she needed to hear. As much as she thought Kamemon was an annoyance, she couldn't imagine life without him. "Er… I think I have to go now…"

Jonathan sighed. "Look, I'm sorry, but you have to face the truth. It's not like he's going to last forever. But I promise you, I'll do whatever it takes to save his life."

"Or your name's Michael Palin."

"Would you STOP that already?!"

* * *

What a horrid day. She leaned back in the chair, waiting for a flight to London, and reminisced what had happened in the last five hours. She didn't like that person. As frail as he looked, he certainly could pack a punch. She absently checked the bullet wound he'd been so thoughtful of to give her, which was nothing more than a small cut that could've easily passed for a papercut. She realized, with some pride, that no HUMAN would be able to do that. The natural healing abilities of her digital self immediately set to work to stop the bleeding and numb the pain mere seconds after the bullet clipped her. Right now, she couldn't feel anything.

It then occurred to her to contact the Master about this. But when she fumbled around for it, realization began to sink in as it hit her like a slap in the face.

She left the communicator by the computer in the building!


	3. The Threadfall Effect

****

DISCLAIMER: Okay, first, I only used the CIA as a prop since, from what I've heard, they spend millions of dollars a year, but heaven knows what. Sound suspicious, no?

* * *

"Come on," she tried to reassure herself while on the plane. "It's not so bad. It's not like we need the communicator to get the point across." But, still, how was she going to find out WHERE she needed to be in London? It was impossible. This mission wasn't going so well as she thought.

__

"You really think I need a communicator to talk to you."

She was startled. The Master! "What is it?" she thought, using the transmitting method the Master had taught her.

__

"Convert the virus now. It won't be long before you get to London."

Right. She took out a small, silvery laptop and slid the disk she stole into it. A long, complicated web of computer code appeared on the screen. She then connected a cord to the side of the laptop, and connected that to a small, clear plastic capsule shaped like the T4 virus. "Converting," she whispered, "now." Immediately, the code started to disappear as the capsule filled up with a black, inky solution. Liquid data. When the last of the code disappeared, she disconnected the cord and turned off the computer. "Conversion complete," she said as the intercom stated they were now in London.

__

"Very good. This is where you'll need to go…"

* * *

"Come ON, Anne, this is even stranger than the last!" shouted an excited Jonathan.

"Oh, sure," Anne said with bitterness in his tone. "We'll just have some Digimon-hating maniac kick us out again, won't we?"

Jonathan ignored her and excitedly typed away. He had been hacking into something for the last fifteen minutes now, and Anne was getting tired. "Just be patient, Anne, I know you'll want to see this. London's got something like that other thing that kicked us out, and so does a lot of other countries."

"What?!"

"See, I told you you'd be interested."

"Let me see that!" As soon as he got finished hacking into whatever it was, she pushed him away and looked at what it was. It appeared to be a list of some sort…

America—CIA

England—Thread

Germany—(military)

France—Civil Defence

Russia—(military)

Japan—Hypnos

She stopped at Hypnos. That name was mentioned in the warning. She narrowed her eyes and asked, "What is this list for, anyway?"

"How should I know? Maybe it has something to do with whoever gave us that warning."

But she already was dead sure that it was a list of organizations set against Digimon. Why else would the American CIA be there? Then she got an idea… "Jonathan, try hacking into that original computer again. The one in Japan."

"Are you kidding?" he asked, incredulously. "We'll just get kicked out again! What's the point?"

"Lightning never strikes twice, right? They might've put their security down. Just try it."

Jonathan muttered something intelligible and nervously hacked into the computer. The translated version appeared, without a single hitch. "Whoa…"

"See?" said Anne. "You should listen to me more often. What does it say?" Jonathan scrolled down to the day's date.

28/09/01

Project Threadfall to be tested

That was all. But how could they test it if it was stolen? Odd. And she didn't want to know what it did at all…when suddenly the screen blacked out again. Jonathan groaned and said, "See? I told you."

* * *

"Riley, set up another firewall. I have a feeling that our 'friends' are back."

"Yes, sir."

Good. Now that that was taken care of, Yamaki had to see to the testing of Threadfall. Those idiots really thought that he was stupid enough not to make a backup copy. And on top of that, he had people trying to break into the database. But both were easily dealt with. He walked down the corridor to the testing lab, where the leaders of the Thread and the American CIA were waiting.

As soon as he showed up, the American clapped his hands together and exclaimed, "All right! Let's see what this baby can do!" Then he looked thoughtful for a second, and then added, "That is, if it can DO anything."

"Lay off, Michael," said William, the English leader of the Thread. "We're here for witnessing, not to make rude remarks."

Witnessing…right. Yamaki doubted that Michael would report anything helpful on the Threadfall, but at least he could depend on William's word. "Where is the test Digimon?" he asked an assistant. No sooner than he had asked, a large, red dinosaur strapped in cables appeared behind the glass. "Right. Run the program now."

Another assistant turned a few knobs on the machine and the cables snapped loose. The bewildered creature immediately started looking for a way out, but its attempts were useless. There was no way out. Michael folded his arms in impatience while William bit his lip. Suddenly, something appeared to be hailing on the creature, and they looked like tiny, silver crystal points. William snapped up and gripped the railing, while Michael's eyes widened in amazement. The creature roared in pain as it batted at the points, trying to get away. But no matter where it went, they just followed. The beast suddenly collapsed on the floor after a few minutes, shuddered, and deleted in a swirl of red data. Yamaki never flinched.

"Dear God…"

"That…that thing…it just…"

"Yes?" Yamaki was extremely pleased at the sight of them at a loss for words. "And your point?"

"Yamaki," started Michael, "I hate to say it, but I think you got a real life-saver here."

"Brilliant," stuttered William. "I can't…believe it…"

"This is a new record for you, Yamaki. The government just might be able to use this."

"Uh, sir?" Tally managed to get in unnoticed. "We found something, and we, uh, we think it might've been linked to the crime."

"Where is it?!"

"It's back in the control room. Y'know, by the main computer."

* * *

"Hey, Anne, guess what?" Jonathan lowered a newspaper that he was reading. They were waiting for the computer to reboot.

"I can't possibly guess what, Jonathan."

"They found the body of a girl who got lost about ten years ago…" He buried himself in the newspaper again. "They say they found her in the Chunnel. What they're wondering is how they never noticed it before…"

"How did she die?"

"They don't know. All they know is that she disappeared about a decade ago."

"Are you SURE you're not reading a tabloid?"

"Hell no. She had just been in a coma for a few weeks, because she had double pneumonia, and then she woke up and ran out of the house. It was awfully weird, since she'd just come out of a coma, I mean, come ON…" He trailed off, sensing that Anne wasn't impressed, and read more from the article.

"How old was she?"

"About…14, maybe 15. What I don't get is how she could've recovered within fifteen minutes of coming out of a coma…"

"I guess that is strange." Then Jonathan's mother called up the stairs, saying that Anne's mom wanted her to come home. And she wanted Anne to stop by the grocer and pick up a few things on her way back. "Uh, see you." Then Kamemon turned into a rucksack again and then a bike when Anne made her way out.

While she was at the grocer's, she noticed something odd. A tall woman who seemed about 25 years old, with black hair and blond highlights, wearing a trenchcoat and gloves, seemed interested in the bike—rather, Kamemon. Anne's heart stopped for a few seconds, then started again as she realized that Kamemon was perfectly disguised. Nobody else had noticed him, right? The woman ran a gloved hand down one of the handlebars, and paused. Then her eyes met Anne's and she walked away. Anne didn't feel good. Who was she? Why would anyone be that interested in a bike? She shrugged it off and walked out with her purchases. But there was something on the spot where the woman's hand had paused. She pulled it off and found that it was latched to the handlebar. Odd. It was just an empty, plastic capsule. Where was the harm in that?


	4. Nisamon's Farewell

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Sabirdramon. He and Penmon are both official Digimon. Go ahead and look 'em up, if you want…

* * *

Anne's D-Power started beeping, suddenly. She and Kamemon had just gotten home. Kamemon looked pleadingly at her and asked, "Where is it?"

She looked at the screen. "St. James Park, again. Odd. They don't usually turn up in the same place twice. Ready?"

"Right." In one minute, they were speeding down Bedford Street again. But, somehow, the ride appeared to be a lot smoother instead of haphazard turns every three seconds.

"Man, Kamemon, have you been practicing?" Anne asked. She didn't get a reply, since they were right there at St. James Park. Penmon and Jonathan were there, too. "Oh, hello Mr. Cleese." Jonathan groaned and said, "Honestly, we don't have time for that. What does your D-Power say about the Digimon?" There was a great hulking shadow that she could spot through the thickening fog. The D-Power whirred and lit up with the Digimon's info. It was a Paildramon. "Uh-oh," she said. "Paildramon is an Ultimate, right?"

"Of course it's an Ultimate. What's so bad about that?"

She didn't really know why, but she had a bad feeling about this. She swallowed nervously and selected the Digivolution card. "DigiModify! Digivolution activate!"

"Kamemon, Digivolve tooooo… Nisamon! Petit Dragon Blast!" screamed the new Nisamon as a small blue ball of pure energy smashed into Paildramon. The giant lizard armed with two big guns was hardly fazed. "Petit Dragon Blast!" he roared and emitted another blue ball of energy directed at Paildramon.

"Desperado Blaster!" the creature retaliated, but Nisamon was too quick for it. Nisamon leaped took a running start, then leaped into the air and yelled, "Quantum Leap!" The airborne attack trapped Paildramon inside a small bubble that was rapidly growing smaller. It would keep him immobile for a few minutes, enough to work out a strategy. Or so they thought. The bubble immediately snapped open as Paildramon took a swing at the vulnerable Nisamon. "Desperado Blaster!"

"Nisamon!" Anne yelled. "What's wrong?!"

"I don't know!" he yelled back. Then he tried to dodge one of the attacks, but got clipped. "I don't feel too good…"

"Nisamon!" She growled and reached for her cards. "Oh, bugger. Digimodify! Speed activate!"

"What are you using that for?!" asked Jonathan incredulously. "He doesn't need THAT!"

She ignored him and hoped for the best. But Nisamon wasn't making progress. Finally, it was time for Penmon to step in. "Penmon, Digivolve tooooo… Sabirdramon!" In Penmon's place was a giant, black Birdramon.

"What?" she said, hidden in the shadows. This was most unexpected. "Where did HE come from?! Oh well, might as well make the best of it." She brushed back an ebony lock of hair and silently waited for the Paildramon to join the choir invisible. It wouldn't be long now.

"Black Saber!" screamed Sabirdramon, emitting black flames from his wings. They struck Paildramon dead-on in the chest, not appearing to do much damage. But suddenly, Paildramon groaned, fell over, and deleted in a swirl of red data. But Sabirdramon wasn't absorbing its data.

"Why aren't you absorbing the data?" Jonathan asked. "That's not like you at all."

"I'm trying, it won't work." Then, frustrated, he beat his wings violently and asked, "Why can't I take your bloody data?!"

"It helps if it's a real Digimon," said a sudden voice. Anne whipped her head around to see none other than the woman who was checking out Kamemon earlier, while he was disguised as a bike. "Seriously, now. It took your measly Nisamon to practically fight to the death just to defeat a Paildramon at In-Training level."

In-Training? That was impossible! "How could it possibly be an In-Training?!" she asked.

"Simple. Lower its level but sustain its shape. I do believe that Nisamon is a little lackluster, if you ask me."

Lackluster?! Nisamon growled and said, "Petit Dragon Blast!" He then tried to attack, but the energy was somehow diverted into two streams instead of one, each clearly missing the woman. "Wha…what?"

"Honestly, you think a mere Champion can even lay a scratch on me? I should think not." She then produced a small, glass orb out of her trenchcoat. And it _floated._ Nisamon attempted another attack, but suddenly collapsed.

"Nisamon!" Anne couldn't believe it. What's going on? "What's the matter with you?! Get up!"

"I…can't…" he said, weakly. "Can't…move…"

"That's more like it," the woman sneered. The glass orb was apparently sapping Nisamon's energy dry. It then split into five smaller ones and formed a pyramid around him. Suddenly, there was a loud crack and purple lines bolted across the so-called pyramid, connecting each orb, and also forming a force field that was barely visible and hovering about a few feet off the ground. Nisamon was inside it.

"NISAMON!" Anne screamed, and lunged toward the field.

"Let's not forget about you," said the other, and produced another one of those diabolic orbs. Anne's knees suddenly buckled and she fell to the ground, unable to move. It was like her muscles wouldn't respond. "Ta ta, children," said the woman, and she backed away, out of the fog. The hovering pyramid followed, with Nisamon still trapped inside. Anne struggled for breath.

"DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Just a millisecond later, the fog disappeared. But neither of them were to be seen. A deathly silence was all that remained.

"Anne?" said Jonathan.

"I can't believe it… He's gone, Jonathan, he's really gone."

* * *

"Sir? We've received results from the lab."

"Good. What did you make of it?"

"Well, uh, it's got one of those twiddle-thingies that are included with some American patents. Y'know, the ones that use psychic power?

Ugh. _Twiddle-thingies?_ "So?" asked Yamaki.

"So, uhhh," continued the young assistant, searching for the right answer. "We think it might need psychic power to, uh, function. Properly, that is."

"Psychic power? I don't have time for this nonsense."

"But, sir—" 

"I don't care. Just find out what it does, nothing else. Got that?"

"Yes, sir…"

They had found the queer device in the control room. Yamaki had a strong suspicion that it belonged to the thief, which would most likely mean that they would be coming back for it. And if they didn't, then they would eventually find out what it was for. So far, there had been no luck, mainly due to these foolish scientists who wanted to find out what it was made of first. They didn't have any time for that. The assistant started down the hall, but turned back and yelped, "Oh, I almost forgot! We DID find something really strange."

"What? What do you mean by that?"

"There were several messages on it, and even a few recordings. One of the recordings, though…" He trailed off, looking thoughtful.

"Show them to me. Now."

* * *

Unimportant Note: I think I said earlier that this fic had some strong influences from the Dragonriders of Pern series, and the bit where Anne yelled "don't leave me alone" came from the book _Dragonsinger_. If you figured that out already, go give yourself a brownie.


	5. The Replacement

**DISCLAIMER:** I own DemiKyomon and all his evos. 'Tis all…

* * *

Yamaki was shocked. One of the recordings from the device was a full dictation of the conference that was held on the 26th of September. Absolutely everything. That must've explained how the thief was able to locate the virus within a minute. But how could they…? "Don't even think about contacting the Alliance about this," he warned harshly to the assistant. "It'll be the end of us if they find out."

"But, sir," pled the assistant, "How could that be?"

"That American. He has a certain amount of influence on others, and if he is led to believe that this incident was our own fault, we will be no more."

"Oh…I see…"

"What about the other messages?"

"Several of them appear to be the thief conversing with another. Er, here." The assistant handed Yamaki a paper of the so-called conversations, which included instructions to get to the building. But they also included the thief's next destination…

"Contact William Parry immediately. Tell him to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity going on in London."

* * *

Anne could hardly believe it. Kamemon was gone. Forever. He was just GONE, just like THAT. She knew she should've listened, she shouldn't have dared to fight an Ultimate, it was all her fault. She didn't want to think about the horrible things that that woman was doing to him. Were they going to dissect him? Test him? Or maybe just destroy him for no reason? The latter, somehow, seemed to make more sense than the former. He had said so himself, somebody wanted to destroy him. Nobody could explain it. Did Kamemon have some sort of hidden power that let him see the future? Even if he did, it wouldn't matter now, since he was gone.

Things looked bleak as she trudged up the stairs to her room, when she noticed a small, bluish-gray blob floating in the corner. As soon as she entered, it floated over to her. "AAAH!" she yelled, and backed up against the wall. "What do you want?!"

"To be friends!" it said, playfully bobbing up and down.

Now that she was calmed down a little, she asked, "You're a Digimon, aren't you?"

"Yep! Not just any Digimon, but you and I are PARTNERS!" He said the last thing like it was pure ecstasy.

"No, wait, you got it all wrong. I already HAVE a partner."

"Where is he?"

"Uhhh…" She shuddered. "Never mind! I tell you, I already have a partner! Go away!"

"Pleeeeeeeeeease? I'll be your best friend forever and ever!"

She couldn't stand it anymore. "FINE! Just until…" She almost said, "until Kamemon comes back," but resisted the urge. "What's your name?"

"DemiKyomon."

"Ah, okay." She pulled out her D-Power and took a quick scan of the Digimon. Or tried to. Nothing came up.

The Digimon bobbed up and down some more. "I'm hungry."

"That's what I was afraid of…"

* * *

"Maybe I shouldn't have been so harsh to the child," she wondered aloud, the small force field with the unconscious Nisamon inside following right behind her. She had easily passed into the Digital World. "It wasn't in the job description, and the Paildramon wasn't really an In-Training." The process she had described was, of course, impossible unless you were a Digi-God. She felt almost sorry for the child…

__

"Stop that right now," hissed the voice of the Master in her mind. "_There is no need to feel sorry for these filthy humans."_

"Right," she stated mentally. "It won't happen again."

__

"It had better not. Now, are the viruses ready?"

"Yes."

__

"Potency at maximum?"

"The deadliest of the deadly."

__

"Good. You are very promising, unlike those other humans."

"I am not human."

__

"And how correct you are, my digital beauty."

Ah, yes, she often took pride in the fact that, while she took on the form of a human, she was anything but. She looked back at the weak dragon Digimon trapped in the psychic stronghold. Only the strong would survive, and he was one of the soon-to-be dead.

She reached the giant castle that housed the Master in a small matter of time. Now, the ultimate test of survival would begin for the pitiful lizard.

* * *

"What?!" Jonathan was thoroughly and completely surprised when he learned that Anne had received a "replacement" Digimon. "But what about Kamemon?"

"My guess is that he's good as gone," she said, watching the small blue blob known as DemiKyomon dart around the room. "Maybe this is what normally happens when you lose your Digimon, y'know?"

"I guess so…" Penmon, on the other hand, wasn't too surprised about this and was more concerned about his Baby Crash attack that he'd been only too kind to demonstrate.

"And what's a Wyrm?" DemiKyomon also admitted that he knew he was a Baby Wyrm Digimon.

"I think it's some sort of dragon that doesn't have any arms, legs, or wings. Just a body."

"You mean sort of like a snake?"

"Yeah, sort of." But then Jonathan's D-Power started beeping again. "What the frig?! They're everywhere!"

"I noticed that too," said Anne, looking at her D-Power. "It's not too far away. We can stand it."

"Yeah, but I don't know how long Penmon will be able to last. And hell knows that DemiKyomon is able to battle it."

It turned out to be a SnowAgumon. Nothing much. "See?" said Anne, and hung back, holding DemiKyomon. They didn't trust the In-Training Digimon enough to leave it alone for any long period of time.

"Oh, fine," said an exasperated Jonathan. "Come on, Penmon, let's give it a shot."

"Right!" said the enthusiastic Penmon. He prepared to attack, but SnowAgumon got there first.

"Icy Wind!"

"Endless Slap!"

SnowAgumon dodged the attack with ease. "Icy Wind!"

"Ow! Endless Sla—"

"ICY WIND!" That seemed to be all the SnowAgumon could do. It struck hard and fast, sending Penmon flying back to the wall.

"What the heck is going on?!" exclaimed Jonathan, fishing around in his pockets. "How can he be so powerful? And…oh, frig."

"What?"

"I think I left my cards back at the house…"

"Oh…no." Anne suddenly remembered she didn't have hers, either. But DemiKyomon was struggling. "What do you think you're doing? You can't fight!"

"Watch me!" DemiKyomon said this with an air of rebellion about him and broke free of Anne's grasp. "Ha ha! Baby Crash!" Then it flew right into the SnowAgumon.

"Oof! You little brat! Icy Wind—!"

"Baby Crash!"

Surprisingly, the Baby Crash attack seemed to be having some sort of effect on the creature. But SnowAgumon was no loafer. "ICY WIND!" This time, it sent DemiKyomon reeling backwards. "You little bugger—what?"

"DemiKyomon, Digivolve tooooo…Kyomon!"

The tiny blue-gray Digimon suddenly Digivolved. Kyomon, it seemed, was about the same size as Kamemon. It looked like what Jonathan had described as a Wyrm (with no arms or legs), only it had red and black feathered wings. It was still the same color blue, had a rounded blade running back along his head, and, surprisingly, had cat-like ears that pointed forward—_exactly like Kamemon's._ Anne tried to scan it, but the D-Power didn't have any data on it. Odd… Then, he curled up like Kyubimon would during a Dragon Wheel attack and called out, "Mayday!" Then he smacked into SnowAgumon, while his tail whipped out and delivered an extra blow to his head. The white Agumon looked positively dazed, when Kyomon rose up into the air and yelled, "Dragon Breeze!" Then his wings glowed white and tiny quill-like things shot out from them, pounding the SnowAgumon. The creature suddenly shuddered and deleted, Kyomon absorbing its data. "Well? How was that?"

Nobody answered. They were at a loss for words.

* * *

__

Where am I?

That was the first thought that went across Nisamon's mind as he slowly came out of unconsciousness. His first impression was some sort of lab. Then he felt a great pressure in his upper legs and stomach. He wasn't on the ground or anything—he was right in the middle of the room and appeared to be suspended by something, in the air. Weird. Then he saw someone on the ground, appearing to be observing him. It was a female. Not only a female, but the one who he recognized as the one who'd trapped him in that stuffy force field. He growled on impulse and snapped, "What do you want with me?!"

"Nothing much," replied the woman casually. She obviously wasn't afraid. "Why do you wish to know?"

"Get me out of here," he growled. "I'll kill you. Let me out, and I'll do anything you want."

"Relax, I'll let you out of that thing in a minute."

"What's the catch?"

"Oh, nothing much."

Suddenly, the ground beneath him disappeared to reveal some sort of black liquid. He knew that something about it was very deadly, but he couldn't explain how. "What…?"

"Hush, little dragonling, I said I'd let you out. Oh, you mean that? It's just fluid data. Maybe you can get through it. Maybe."

"Let me out of here. Now!"

"Hush…"

Oh, bloody hell, Petit Dragon Blast!" Blue flames suddenly engulfed the woman—but to no effect.

"Now, come on, be patient. You're not going to get what you want by force."

Then realization began to sink in that he was going to die. "You will never get away with this—you hear me?!"

"I hear you, all right…" Then something flickered in her eyes as the pressure was suddenly released from Nisamon's body. He seemed to hang there for a few seconds, then plunged into the liquid data. His entire body screamed out in pain as he could feel his data slowly loosening and floating apart; it felt like fire was ripping his soul out. Then everything went black.

Exit Nisamon.


	6. Birth of PetitDracomon

**DISCLAIMER:** I own PetitDracomon…and his evo…which will pop up later in the story…maybe I should just shut up now…

* * *

William began to worry. Something wasn't right. The anomaly count was low, but it appeared that children were involved in every case. This was getting dangerous. But, then again, he always wondered WHY he joined the Alliance in the first place. At first, it wasn't his wish to destroy Digimon, but he didn't know…all they told him was that with his help, they could protect the entire human race. Who could resist an offer like that? But then he met Yamaki, and things changed. They weren't just protecting people, they were killing living things without a single care. At first, the thought sickened him; it still does, but in a different way, almost. The man somehow convinced him that all Digimon were a threat to mankind, not just the Viruses. But he could never tell the difference between a Virus and a Vaccine. And yet…

"Sir, we've received a message from Hypnos headquarters."

"What?" he said. "Show it to me." He followed the assistant to the control room where an e-mail was flashing in the corner of the computer screen. He opened it immediately.

Attention William Parry—there is mysterious activity going on in your neck of the woods. Watch out for a tall girl with black hair and blond highlights. If you see her at all, you need to contact Yamaki immediately. We believe she stole a vital program and is headed for London. Also, the sensors may pick up a signal of a digital anomaly in whatever area she's in. We don't know why as of yet.

Oh, great. Just great. Now he had more things to worry about. How many tall women with black hair and blond highlights were there in London? Probably a million. Oh well. But on top of all that, another warning flashed across the screen: "ANOMALY DETECTED"

"Right then," said William to the assistant. "Find out its area. And then—"

But then something happened. The "anomaly detected" screen was replaced with a different one: "WARNING – BARRIER BROKEN"

"Oh crap!"

* * *

"So, now what do we do?" asked Jonathan. "Kyomon's proved his worth, and now I'm rather bored."

"Don't ask me," replied Anne. But suddenly, her D-Power went off, clicking and flashing.

"Another Digimon?"

"No, that's not it…what is wrong with this thing…oh, jeez…" Then, it flicked off as the clicking sound died away. Then she thought she could just faintly hear a roar…of pain… "What was that?"

"What was what?"

"That noise…it sounded like someone was hurt…" Then something caught her eye. There appeared to be some sort of glimmer in the sky. Now, what was that? "Jonathan…do you see that?"

"Honestly, Anne, give me details! What do you see?"

"Something in the sky. I dunno what it is, but…" Then she realized that it was in the same spot where the woman had disappeared. With Nisamon. "Oh frig, Jonathan, it's a portal!"

"It's a WHAT?!" He got up quickly and rushed over to where she was. "How d'you know?"

"It's that same place where that lady disappeared, right? Maybe she went to the Digital World and this is a way to get there."

"Sounds awfully fishy to me…"

"It may be to you, but I'm going to try and get through." Then she turned to Kyomon. "Well? What do you say?"

He looked confused and said, "I don't really care, but why would you want to go there?"

"Because…er…well, I don't really know. Maybe…you could fight lots of Digimon and become really strong!"

Kyomon's eyes widened. "Really? Let's go for it!"

Jonathan sighed. "I don't really see how you're going to get through there, but if you do, I guess Penmon and I might as well follow…"

"Yeah!" exclaimed Penmon. "I wanna fight, too!"

"Then it's settled," said Anne, holding her D-Power up. Of course, the real reason for going there wasn't to fight, it was to see if they could find Kamemon. "Now…how do we get through…" The D-Power suddenly started whirring and clicking again, and the glimmer got larger, eventually growing to get big enough for the quartet to go through. "Yes!"

Penmon's eyes suddenly widened as he started pushing them through. "Hurry up!" he said, with a note of panic in his voice.

"What, are you a little over-enthusiastic?" asked Kyomon. But he suddenly sped through the portal. "Come on!"

Anne and Jonathan looked at each and rushed through. The next thing they knew, they were enveloped in a bright light and suddenly appeared in some sort of desert. The city of London was visible behind them. "Are we…" said Anne, trailing off.

"Hurry!" yelped Penmon. "Get out of the way!"

The three of them were quick to obey him, and just as they did, a crack like a thunderclap sounded. The portal exploded into tiny little shards of data and then dissolved. "What just happened?" asked Jonathan hurriedly.

"It looks like the portal was destroyed," said Kyomon. The four just looked at each other in sheer amazement.

* * *

_PetitDracomon._

The name echoed in the creature's mind. PetitDracomon. Was that who he was? It must be. A large, black dragon with blades running along his back, neck, tail, wings, and arms, he certainly was fearful. He lacked hind legs, but who needed them when you had bladed wings? His red eyes had no pupil in them as he flicked them open. There was only one other being there—a tall woman with black and blond hair. She narrowed her eyes at the sight of him and said, "Welcome. I trust you are well."

"Who am I?" he asked solemnly, his mouth not moving.

"That is for you to know and me to find out."

"PetitDracomon."

"Good. Hello there, PetitDracomon. You were created from the leftover data of an as of late Digimon. It possibly explains your design and size, as well…"

"Why do those things matter?"

"They don't. Now, I am to take you to the Master…"

She said "master" like it was authority. "Who is this 'Master'?"

"Now, that is for ME to know, and YOU to find out. Come…"

Suddenly, a metal collar snapped itself around PetitDracomon's neck as she turned her back and started to leave. "What is this?!"

"Nothing much," she said, not turning to look at him. Then he felt a strange burst of energy.

"Silent Night!" Black energy emanated from the dragon's mouth, aimed at the woman, when she whipped around and hurled a small, glass ball at it. The sphere absorbed the energy and fell the ground, shattering into tiny shards. He could easily see that her hand was bloodied.

"Don't…do that…again," she growled, as black ribbons entangled themselves around his limbs and mouth so that he couldn't attack. He tried to free himself of them, but they were stronger than steel. He hissed in reply.

Soon he found himself in a large hallway with a dark shadow at the end. The ribbons and collar dissolved, but he couldn't move. The shadow somehow intimidated him.

_"Hello, PetitDracomon. I've been waiting to see you."_

"Who are you?"

_"That is no matter. I know who you are already, so no need to introduce yourself."_

"What do you want with me?"

__

"Simple. I am asking you to help me destroy these filthy humans."

PetitDracomon immediately recognized humans as creatures such as the girl who ensnared him with the ribbons, but he didn't see her react at all. "Why should I?"

_"Alas, you do not know the terrible things these humans are capable of. They fear what they don't understand. They kill them, too."_

"What do I have to do to get rid of them?"

_"All you have to do is find a portal to the Real World and start from there. But you will have to watch out for some of them. They have powerful weapons that are enough to destroy any living creature. This is another thing I must tell you."_

"Which is?"

_"You will need to become stronger. So far, you are at the Ultimate level. That is very strong, but the highest any creature can reach is Mega. You are but one step away from that level. There is only one way to reach that level. You will have to destroy Digimon and absorb their data. Do you understand?"_

There was one thing he didn't understand. Why should he work for him, just so he could get all the credit? It was just a big, talking cloud, after all. "I refuse."

_"Ah, but I am afraid that you have no choice. Now, prepare to be destroyed, defiant one."_

No, he didn't have to stand this. He looked up and saw a glass skylight. He spread his wings and seemed to slither through the air as he crashed straight up through it. He quickly flew away, knowing that they wouldn't hesitate to catch him. But then he realized that he could get to Mega on his own. And then he would be back to destroy that talking cloud! Yes, it was all so simple—the fastest way to get to Mega was to seek out the strongest Digimon alive and send them packing. And of course the perfect target was the Digital Gods.

Meanwhile, the woman stayed on the ground, watching after the black reptilian Digimon. She turned to the Master and asked, "Shall I go collect him?"

_"No. Let him be. I have another mission for you…"_


	7. Desert Confrontation

**DISCLAIMER:** I own Amonæmon and all three of the oracles, the latter whose names I got from Cirque du Soleil…ever heard of it? It's a French circus that uses NO animals; also the only circus in the world that has half-nekked jugglers and imitations of their own…sequence-thingies. ^ ^()

* * *

_Why, God, why?_

She couldn't believe it. Here she was, going BACK into the building, just to get a lousy piece of metal. If that guy just caught SIGHT of her, she'd be gone for good. That was a no-brainer. But it was the Master's wish. And what about that dragon, PetitDracomon? Why did he just let him go, instead of properly dealing with him? It was all too strange. But now she had to risk her life over a simple machine. One that she no longer had use for. She just couldn't believe it.

"What the…"

"What is it, Tally?"

"Something's appeared on my radar. But…it's not a normal reading."

"What are you talking about?"

"It looks like a wild one…but the signal is too faint. Weird."

"I'm willing to bet it's just a glitch. Don't worry about it."

"Whatever you say, Riley…" Something wasn't right. Tally could clearly remember that some sort of wild one was detected on the night of the theft, inside the building. That one was also very faint. Just like this one… She kept an eye on it. It appeared to be heading directly for this floor. And that could only leave one explanation… Then there was some sort of beeping noise. "What's that?"

"I dunno," Riley said. "It sounds like it's coming from outside…hang on, I'll go check it out."

"I have a bad feeling about this," Tally muttered as Riley slid out of the chair. Tally followed suit, and stayed outside of the room.

* * *

"What is this place?"

Anne voiced all of their thoughts after they'd landed in the Digital World. She could no longer see the portal; something appeared to have destroyed it. But what? Odd…

"It looks like some sort of desert," said Jonathan.

"Tell us something we DON'T know."

"Yeah," said Kyomon. "Like what's a desert?"

Anne rolled her eyes at him and took a look around the place. No Kamemon in sight. Oh well. She hadn't really expected to have success this early, but…

"What's that noise?" said Kyomon suddenly.

"What noise?"

"That thing…it sounds like something's screaming…"

"I can't hear anything. Are you sure you're not imagining it?"

"Yeah, why would I lie to you?"

He had a point. Then…she heard it. It was like some sort of roar…it sounded like a tiger, almost. Strange. Then it died away. "C'mon," she said cautiously. "Let's move."

"Aye aye, but how are we going to get out of here?" asked Jonathan. "I don't see any cars—" Then his gaze fell on Penmon. "Oh."

"All right, all right," said Penmon, irritably.

About a few minutes later they were all riding on the back of Sabirdramon. Kyomon tried to fly on his own, but couldn't keep up as fast. Then Anne saw something glitter on the ground.

"What's that?"

"What's what?" asked Jonathan.

"That stuff on the ground."

"Oh, it's probably just some water or something."

"It looks a lot more like glass…"

"Nonsense, where'd you find glass anywhere around here?"

"I get the bloody point…"

After another few minutes, something caught her eye. There was a large, black shadow on the ground. And it didn't belong to Sabirdramon.

"What the frig—?!" exclaimed Jonathan, his eyes widening at it. Then both of their D-Powers went off. Jonathan checked his. "I'm not getting any data on that thing."

"Neither am I," said Anne, glancing at the D-Power. There was something deadly wrong about that creature. It didn't belong here. Then it snapped out straight as a board. It was some sort of black lizard. With wings. And blades. And it was looking right at them.

"Hello there," said a voice that must've belonged to the lizard, even though it didn't move its mouth. "Why don't you come down?"

Sabirdramon circled cautiously. "Why should I?" he said.

"Because it is only polite."

Sabirdramon had no response. "Stand your ground," warned Jonathan.

"Oh, come off it, why be afraid of little old me?"

Why be not afraid? It was covered in blades from head to…uh, tail! She just noticed it had no hind legs.

"Hm, fine then. I might as well absorb your data. Baihumon was a nice treat, but why not give it a boost?"

Baihumon?! Wasn't that one of the four Digital Gods?! Then she realized those things she saw on the ground might've been shards from the Digicores. She had a nasty feeling about this.

_"Silent Night!"_

Sabirdramon had to wheel violently around in the air to dodge the attack, a black ball of fiery energy. "Don't attack!" yelled Anne.

"Why not?!"

"He killed a Digital God, you don't stand a chance!"

Sabirdramon was about to protest when suddenly a giant ball of light flashed several times in front of them. The lizard screamed out in pain and quickly slithered away, like fluid. The light was blinding and Anne almost lost her grip when it stopped. "Ow," said Kyomon. "What was that?"

Then a figure clad in purple armor and a cape with an eagle's head appeared in front of them. On closer sight, Anne noticed the eye of Horus was emblazoned on its chest. "Who are you?" she asked.

"Why don't you look it up on your Digivice?" it replied calmly.

Anne did so. Amonæmon, Mega level, Data type, Egyptian Spirit Digimon. His attacks were Sacred Light, Eye Of Horus, and Amon's Blade. "Is he dead?" she asked.

"I believe you are asking about PetitDracomon," Amonæmon said. "No, not quite. I only blinded him to stop him from killing you. I saw him murder Baihumon, and I must say, he has far too much power to be an ordinary Ultimate. He possesses some hidden power. I'd hate to see him as Mega."

"Which is?"

"I don't know. Normally I would, but he is an unclassified species. I believe he is an artificially created species, possibly from the fragments of some very powerful Megas."

"Oh…thanks anyway." Then she thought. "Wait, have you seen a Digimon called Kamemon around here?"

"Kamemon?" he said quizzically. "No, not necessarily. The only ones who would are most likely the oracles. But they might not know either."

"Who are they?"

"Three wise Mega Digimon; Allegriamon, Draliomon, and Qidamon. However, if you want to get anything from them, you must pass a test—which is, as I'm led to believe, is quite near impossible."

"I don't care. Where are they?"

"Allow me to take you to them. Just follow me. You're in too much danger from PetitDracomon to go alone, besides. He hates sunlight."

"Ah…"

* * *

"Oh, please, where is it?"

She was frantically hurrying down the halls, looking for the control room. She just had this feeling it was there, but she wasn't sure how. She remembered it was up on the fourteenth floor, that was all. And she still couldn't find it! But maybe…

There. She saw the steps leading up into the control room. Now she just had to find the communicator.

"C'mon, you louse…c'monnnnnn…"

She took a quick peek inside it. No one. Good. She walked inside and spotted it on the counter. What was it doing, lying there? She didn't feel right. Nevertheless, she walked over and picked it up. It clicked on. Everything was working correctly. No fake. She tried to send a message to the Master. But…

Recipient Unknown

Recipient unknown? What the frig—?! She quickly looked on the back of the communicator. There was a tiny note attached.

"I NEVER REALLY THOUGHT YOU'D FALL FOR THIS, BUT LOOKS LIKE I WAS WRONG."

Oh no.

Suddenly, there was a metallic slam. The door! She dashed over to it and tried opening it. Frig! It was locked! Now she was trapped in here. And she was dead.

Tally could hear the frustrated yells of the intruder in the locked room. Yes! She fell for it! Now she just had to go tell Yamaki. Of course, the real communicator was being studied at this moment.


	8. Midnight Strike

* * *

She leaned against the steel wall, muttering curses under her breath. She was so stupid! Yet the copy of the communicator looked so real…not one detail was overlooked. Had she underestimated these people?

"Yeah. Right," she growled, in response to her own thought. She would be dead by the next day. But then she heard something outside. She quickly put her ear to the wall. Footsteps! She braced herself…

The door clicked open. She shot out almost like a cannonball and onto whoever opened it.

It was a woman. She appeared to be in her late twenties, with long brown hair. There was a look of shock written plainly across her face; it seemed the wind was knocked out of her. Before she could react, though, the other pinned her up against the wall.

"Who are you?!" she demanded of her victim.

"How did you…" She broke off.

"Where is the communicator?!"

"The…the what?"

"This!" She angrily held up the fake.

"But…isn't it…right there…you're holding it, aren't you?"

She tossed it away, rather frustrated. "You know damn well what I'm talking about, now where is it?!" She pressed her up against the wall and slid her other hand into the trenchcoat, looking for a small patch.

"It's…it's in the lab…"

"Which is where?"

"Twelfth floor…down the hall…to the right…you can't miss it…"

She found the patch. "Good," she said, and gently placed the patch on the woman's neck.

"What is that?!" she began to protest, but soon found it hard to speak. The other practically threw her onto the ground. She'd placed a strong sedative in it, which was dangerous to the touch. Just a small precaution. Now she had to find the real communicator.

* * *

"Amonæmon, slow down!" called out Anne to the great, violet eagle. "We can barely keep up!"

The large armored bird stopped and looked back. "Sorry, but it's almost nightfall. If you want to get to the oracles without a chance of running into that mutant, we need to get there before sundown."

"I thought you could drive off that thing."

"I can only do so much."

She sighed and looked at the weary Kyomon. "Can't we at least slow down a bit? I mean, you're a Mega and Kyomon's just a Rookie. He can't take it."

"What?!" protested the small blue dragon. "I can handle it just fine! Come on!" Kyomon managed to fly alongside Amonæmon with a small burst of energy but soon fell back again.

"Very well," he said. "I'll slacken the pace, but only a little. The mutant is just too powerful."

"It's a bloody Ultimate," said Jonathan. "You're a bloody Mega. What d'you mean it's too powerful?"

"Like I said, it was made from fragments of Digimon with far greater powers than I. And now that he has consumed the blood of a Digital Guardian, he is even more lethal to this world. Come."

Anne finally managed to sweet-talk Amonæmon into letting them rest for the night. Penmon and Kyomon soon fell asleep, and Anne felt a bit restless, as did Jonathan. She finally worked up the nerve to ask the Mega something.

"Amonæmon?"

"What?"

"What did you mean when you called PetitDracomon a mutant?"

He sighed. "PetitDracomon is an artificial Digimon. I think he was born of a Digi-egg but transformed into something entirely different."

"So…he might've been a Vaccine type?"

"It is a possibility."

She pondered this. Could this mean that he might've been Nisamon? "Do you know what Digimon he might've been?"

"No. But I would guess it was some sort of Digimon with vast, deep hidden powers. And most certainly reptilian."

"D'you think that there might be a way to change him back?"

He sighed again. "I'm not sure. If there were, it would be no easy task. You might want to ask the oracles once we get there. Now get to sleep."

"Okay…" Somehow, she just felt that he'd deliberately switched the subject to the oracles to make her lose interest. It hadn't worked very well. She yawned and obeyed.

Kyomon's eyes suddenly snapped open. Something wasn't right. Everybody else was asleep, except for Amonæmon. It was practically the middle of the night. He felt a shiver run up his spine. Something was definitely amiss. Now feeling wide awake, he fluttered up to a high spot on a rock.

"Something wrong, Kyomon?"

Amonæmon. "I don't really know," he replied. Kyomon thought he saw something quiver in the air next to him.

The next thing he knew, he was lying dazed on the ground, with the taste of blood in his mouth.

"Kyomon!"

"I…I'm okay…" But then the moonlight caught something in the air. It glimmered off a shiny surface…of a blade raised directly above his head.

Then Amonæmon shoved it out of the way. "Amon's Blade!" he yelled, whipping out a scepter which gleamed and shifted into a large crimson scimitar. Then he swiped at something in the air; it was only air. There was no outcry, no blood, no nothing.

"What was that?" asked Kyomon, coming to his senses.

"I don't know. If we're lucky, it wasn't PetitDracomon."

"Oh no…" He knew luck well enough to guess that that was PetitDracomon. This was not good. Then he saw the same quiver…reaching directly for Anne! "ANNE!"

"What?!" she said, snapping up immediately. Then she was knocked back down again. "Bloody hell, what was that?!"

"Get out of the way!"

She felt that she should listen. She rolled out of the way. Just barely a second later, a small chunk of earth flew from the ground; there was a deep scratch where her head was. Then the scimitar came again, slashing at air. Anne felt a small shiver run up her spine. She thought she saw something right beside her.

Ice suddenly flooded her body.

There was something ice cold and scaly resting on her neck.

She knew better than to scream, but still tried to get Amonæmon's attention by quick gestures. He didn't seem to notice. She felt the thing slightly contract, and something cold and sharp brushed the back of her neck. With a sick feeling, she realized what they were: blades. And that thing was a tail. She took in short quick breaths and tried to get someone's attention. Then she saw the blackness materialize on her throat. It was a tail, entirely covered in blades. She suppressed a small gasp and felt the tail flicking down her body, wrapping itself around her stomach.

Kyomon was the first to notice Anne. "Anne!" he yelled, and made straight for her. Something large and heavy knocked him away. Dazed now, he fluttered up into the air. "Mayday!"

But his efforts were in vain. He just got knocked back again, not being able to see her attacker. Anne quickly realized that she was the only one who could see it, however little of it was visible. "Kyomon!" she yelled. "Over here, behind me!"

Suddenly, the tail squeezed hard on her ribs.

_"Come, now, we shan't want to hurt that pretty little face of yours, do we?"_

She froze. She knew that voice, though she didn't know why. PetitDracomon. _"Oh, God, help me!"_ she screamed in her mind.

Suddenly, there was a loud hiss and the tail recoiled. Her D-Power was practically blazing. Kyomon felt it too.

"Kyomon, Digivolve toooo…Lestemon!"

Where the blue dragon once was, there was a large black lizard. Lestemon, apparently Kyomon's Champion form, had black scales and electric blue stripes on his head, with small quills running down the back. He was clad in some sort of armor that didn't look really metallic, but looked sort of like it belonged in the military, with blades running along his arms and a bandoleer holding even more blades; Anne guessed he was only a bit taller than she was. But the impression he gave off wasn't fierce or deadly…more lithe and cunning. Like a thief.

Lestemon suddenly felt a new awakening. It was as though the night belonged to him. He growled and at once saw what had a grip on Anne; PetitDracomon! The mutant lizard growled back, knowing that Lestemon knew where he was. He wasn't some stupid animal. Lestemon launched himself at the enemy and realized that he was enjoying every second of it. He slashed a blade at the huge shadow. It hissed in response and withdrew its tail. But then he whipped it at Lestemon. He caught it in midair, but was tossed heavily back onto the ground. Next thing he knew, PetitDracomon was on top of him.

"Silent Night!"

Just a quick turn of his head stopped the lizard from blowing his head off altogether. "Renegade Claw!" he yelled in return, and slashed at PetitDracomon again, but this time twisting his entire body over so that the attacker was thrown off. "Larcener Strike!" he yelled again, crossing his arms together and swinging them apart, creating an energy force that sent PetitDracomon wheeling back in the air. But he quickly regained composure, and started gathering the crimson energy at the mouth—

"Sacred Light!"

Suddenly, something like a floodlight illuminated the area. Though the shape of PetitDracomon was instantly clarified, Lestemon's skin suddenly started to burn. He instantly withdrew back into the shadows, back where Anne was. Was that a natural effect of Sacred Light? No, it couldn't be. PetitDracomon instantly screamed out in pain; Amonæmon, seizing the chance, leapt forward with the crimson scimitar.

"Amon's Blade!"

But PetitDracomon wasn't about to be killed that easily. He cartwheeled in the air, silkily dodging the blade. Then he struck Amonæmon with his tail and scattered off. The light faded and Lestemon got up. PetitDracomon was nowhere to be seen. He scanned the sky thoroughly and returned to Anne. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Wait…where's Jonathan?"

"Right here." He was leaning against one of the rocks. "Next time that bugger attacks, would you be so kind as to tell me? And who's that?"

"That's Kyomon. He Digivolved."

He fell silent. "Lestemon…as in ornitholestes?"

"What in bloody hell is that?"

"Never mind…"

"Hey, you guys," interrupted Penmon. "What about Amonæmon?"

"Oh, I forgot!" exclaimed Anne and rushed over to him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, he just clipped me," he replied. There was a shallow gash in his right arm. Anne hated to think of what that tail blade could do to her head. "We need to set off immediately."

"Why?"

"You know the saying lightning never strikes in the same spot twice? It's not true. He'll be back and we need to be as far away as possible from this place."

Anne and Lestemon both looked at each other. This might take a bit longer than they'd expected.


	9. Betrayal and Trickery

**DISCLAIMER:** Okay, I DON'T own Matt or Shedramon. And when I say Matt, I don't mean Yamato. Matt's a friend of mine who asked to be in this when I told him about it, and he made up Shedramon. Understood?

* * *

"New recruit?"

"Yes."

"Cool, so'm I. What are you doing here?"

Ah, of course. She expected that question once she'd entered the lab, but luckily this moronic employee had been left in charge. There was no one else there. "I need the com—er, the device."

"Which one?"

She struggled to stop her temper from flaring. "The one being studied."

"Oh, you mean the one with the recordings?"

"…Yes…"

He narrowed his eyes. "Yamaki said not to let anyone take it out of this room."

Damn. "Uh, you see, I got direct orders from him. Results came back and it's harmless."

"…You sure?"

"Of course."

He hesitated. "Fine." He got up and went to the back of the lab. He came back with the small piece of metal—the communicator. "Here."

"Thank you," she said, and left quickly. "Baka."

* * *

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we th—"

"Shut up, Cleese!"

Jonathan glared at Anne. Sabirdramon fought to suppress his laughter, yet Amonæmon remained expressionless. So did Lestemon. Though Anne thought that Kyomon was the perfect image of childish innocence, Lestemon appeared to be totally solemn. His black scales easily stood out against the desert; the blue ones glittered with some sort of malice. Or at least that's what it looked like. Anne still couldn't get a reading on him, though.

A sudden howl jolted her out of her thoughts. Lestemon snapped up and emitted a low growl. But Amonæmon didn't stop.

"What was that?" she asked Amonæmon, fearfully.

"Latramon," he replied. "Nothing to worry about."

"I hope so…" She saw a small dust cloud on the horizon.

"That's them. They travel in packs and are extremely agile. Yet…something seems to be wrong."

Jonathan interrupted. "Don't you think it might be a bit WISE to get out of their way?"

"No," said Amonæmon.

"What?!"

"Something isn't right. I need to see to that."

"Why?"

"I am one of two guardians of the desert."

"Why can't the other one deal with it?!"

"Because he doesn't know he is a guardian."

"How can that be?" asked Anne.

Amonæmon looked at the horizon. "Many Digimon do not realize their hidden power immediately. It comes within time. I was the same, and so were the four Digital Gods. The strongest Digimon may Digivolve to be a weakling, and vice versa. However…"

"What?"

"I do know the names of some future guardians."

"What are they?"

"Well, one of them is myself. The other guardian of the desert is Amuramon. The two of us can then Fuse to become Ejimon."

"Eji for Egypt?"

He shrugged. "I don't know the name of one, but I do know he is the ultimate paladin of the Tai Chi."

"Ah, okay." Anne peered at the horizon. "Are those Latramon?"

"Yes."

"Okay…" From that distance, they looked like coyotes. Suddenly, Lestemon growled again and his arm shot up in the air; it caught a golden blur and he pinned it to the ground. It was a Latramon, Anne gathered, because it looked sort of like a coyote. Its fur was a silky gold color and had dark, blood-red stripes along its back. She looked closer at the whimpering Digimon and saw little ridges along its back. Then she realized that it probably fit the description of a chupacabra more than a coyote.

"Where are you going?" growled Lestemon.

"Nowhere, nowhere!"

"Don't lie to me, you piece of desert filth." He shoved it harder against the ground, making it gasp for air. It struck Anne that Lestemon had a personality much more like PetitDracomon than of Kyomon. The Latramon whimpered again.

"Holy bird, trouble, big trouble, we help!"

"What d'you mean, 'holy bird'?"

"Red phoenix! Big fire!"

'Lestemon, stop," ordered Amonæmon. "They have a limited English vocabulary. Let me handle this." Lestemon scowled and stepped aside. Then Amonæmon talked to the Latramon in a different language. It babbled excitedly for a few seconds and Amonæmon said something else to it. It bounded away.

"What did you do that for?!" exclaimed Lestemon. Amonæmon ignored him.

"Apparently, Zhuqiaomon is PetitDracomon's latest victim," he said. "The Latramon feel that there is something they can do to help her, but I fear there is none. We have to get to the oracles if we have any chance of finding your friend, Anne," he added.

Lestemon turned and glared at Anne. "What?"

She suddenly remembered that she had yet to tell Lestemon about Kamemon. "Er…you see…it's nothing. Come on." Yet, as they went on, she couldn't help but feel that Lestemon wasn't about to de-Digivolve back into Kyomon anytime soon.

About a few hours later, Lestemon still hadn't de-Digivolved, and Anne was worried. In fact, he seemed to be getting more and more hostile and agitated. Then she saw something large and black on the horizon. "What's that?" she asked.

"I don't know," said Amonæmon. "I've never seen something like that in the desert before."

This time, Jonathan looked closer. "Wait a minute," he said. "Is that a Digimon?"

Anne scanned it. "It's a BlackWarGreymon!"

"Oh, crap! Amonæmon!"

But Amonæmon didn't respond. Then he looked at Jonathan and said, "It's not real."

"What d'you mean by that, Anne got a reading!"

"I know. But it's not a true Black WarGreymon."

The creature launched itself into the air. "Terra Destroyer!"

Amonæmon countered it with his scepter. "Amon's Blade!"

BlackWarGreymon was barely fazed. "Terra Destroyer!"

"Eye of Horus!"

This time, the attack rebounded and hit BlackWarGreymon dead on. It flew back and its data started to flash. Then it collapsed and appeared to delete…but there was a different Digimon in its place. It got back up into the air.

"Shedramon!" said a different, male voice with an American accent. "Kill!"

"Dragon Kick!" yelled the Digimon, apparently called Shedramon. The attack struck Amonæmon right in the chest and sent him back a few yards. Lestemon bounded forward.

"Larcener Str—"

"Dragon Kick!"

Suddenly, Lestemon got blown back and de-Digivolved into Kyomon. Then Shedramon turned on them. Then a boy stepped up to its side, apparently the one who'd told Shedramon to "kill". Anne guessed he was American.

"You idiots," he said. "Shedramon is the strongest Digimon ever. You think your spindly weaklings could even scratch him?"

She didn't like the way he spoke. "Shut up!" she growled. "How come Amonæmon was able to force him out of hiding?!"

"Oh, you mean that great violet parrot? I told Shedramon to stop it."

"I didn't hear you!"

"Maybe you weren't supposed to!"

"WAIT A MINUTE!" yelled Jonathan. "Who are you, first of all?"

"Matt."

"Matt who?"

"Is it any of your business?"

"Shut up!"

"Make me!"

The two bickered and argued so much that Anne really didn't see the point of it. She carefully picked up the dazed Kyomon and tried to get a reading on Shedramon. It failed.

"Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!"

"Why don't you go shoot yourself, you might get Upper Class Twit of the Year award!"

"Oh, shut up!"

"You shut up!"

"I said it first!"

"You are, but what am I?"

Jonathan, by this time, was thoroughly agitated, so Anne pulled him away. "I'm sorry, uh, Matt, but he's easily angered. I'm Anne Connor, he's Jonathan Dowd, that's Kyomon, that's Amonæmon, and that's—"

"A Sabirdramon."

"How'd you know that?"

"He has his own card, you know."

"Oh."

It turned out that Matt did come from America, as Anne had thought. Kyomon was beginning to come 'round and Amonæmon wasn't badly hurt. Shedramon wasn't exactly the strongest Digimon ever, but he was strong. Matt had created him like that, so his Rookie had the power of an Ultimate. Shedramon was also a knight of the Tai Chi. Anne pondered this, for Amonæmon had mentioned something about a future guardian having something to do with the Tai Chi; but she couldn't remember what it was at the moment. "D'you know anything about the guardians?" she asked.

"You mean Qinglongmon, Xuanwumon, Zhuqiaomon and Baihumon?"

"No. But, speaking of them…did you know that two of 'em are dead?"

"Which ones?"

"Baihumon and Zhuqiaomon."

"Oh, yeah. Shedramon saw this huge black thing thrash Zhuqiaomon around, though."

"That's PetitDracomon. I think we've got something he wants."

"Why would he want anything to do with you? Your Digimon aren't enough of a challenge for him, and it doesn't look like he's interested in anything other than world domination."

"Oh, right. But actually, I think that it's more of a grudge…"

"Oh."

"Er, have you heard of the oracles?"

"I think so…"

"How far away are they?"  
"Not very. Just about a half-hour's walk from here'll get you there. Why?"

"I need to ask a few questions."

"Oh, okay, fine then. If you want to get there by sunset, I'd start now."

"Thanks. Oh, and sorry for attacking…"

"Why should you be sorry? It's not like you had a choice."

There was an edge in his tone that made it sound non-sympathetic. She sighed and beckoned to the others. "Let's go."

"But we just got here!" protested Kyomon.

"She's right," said Amonæmon. "The oracles aren't too far from here, and if we don't want to run into PetitDracomon we should set off immediately."

"Is that the cave of Caerbannog?"

"Shut up, Cleese."

"You."

They'd gotten to a cave, which did sort of look like the cave of Caerbannog from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Matt was unimpressed. This was supposed to be where the oracles were.

"Is it safe to go in?" asked Anne.

"Yes," replied Amonæmon. "But here I must leave you. If you pass their test, they will protect you. If you do not…you won't need protection. Good luck." He leaped up into the air and disappeared.

"Well," said Jonathan, "that was fast. C'mon."

The six of them, if you included their Digimon, dropped down into the cave. At first, Anne couldn't see anything. But the little group continued on. It was downwards from there; it kept getting darker. Then she saw a light up ahead. "Hurry," she said. "They can't be too far from here."

"We figured that," said Matt, a bit annoyed.

The light got brighter and they reached a clearing. "There's nothing here," commented Kyomon, and fluttered over to the clearing. "See? There's nothing in this place—" Suddenly, there was a loud crack and Kyomon shouted. Something knocked Anne down and for a wild, fearful moment, she thought PetitDracomon was there. But she realized there was nothing of the sort and got up. But then…

"Oh my God!" she exclaimed. Was she seeing quadruple? There was FOUR of Kyomon! How could that be?!

"You see it too?" Jonathan said. He and Matt were also knocked down, and were apparently seeing the same thing she was. It wasn't a hallucination.

"I suppose that this is the test," said Shedramon solemnly. "To see which one is real."

A pit fell in Anne's stomach. She swallowed hard and thought, well, this is going to be easy, just ask. "Kyomon?"

"What?" said the four of them in unison. Then they seemed shocked a bit and stumbled—all at the exact same moment. Whatever the original was doing, the three were copying him exactly. Oh dear. This was going to be a bit harder than she thought.

* * *

Yamaki walked back down the corridor to the control room. Something didn't feel right. Now that he thought about it, the person who stole Threadfall seemed somewhat familiar…where had he seen that face before?

Then he remembered. Ah. Of course.

He sighed. Even though the two were practically identical, they seemed…different, in some way. A chill ran up his spine. He tried to shake it off, but then he saw someone lying on the floor. "Riley!" he yelled, running over to her. "What happened?!"

Slowly, she came to. "…What? What's going on?" Suddenly, she snapped awake. "Where is she?!"

"Where's who?"

"There was this person who practically flew out of the control room, and she got the device…she said it was fake…then I think she drugged me or something, but I dunno…"

"Don't tell me it was the same woman who stole the virus."

"Who?"

He ignored her and hurried into the control room. It picked up a faint signal inside the building. Threadfall automatically switched on.

She moved swiftly to the portal, feeling somewhat triumphant. She got back the communicator without any trouble. The lab worker would probably be sacked for letting that happen, though. She felt a twinge of guilt, but immediately shook it off as she approached the portal to the Digital World. Master would be pleased.

Yet, as she crossed through to the other world…she had no idea that something followed.

"Sir, Threadfall's gone!"

"What?! What do you mean?! It's not supposed to just disappear! What about the anomaly?"

"It's gone too. Maybe it's just a glitch—"

"That program has no glitches. I can assure you that. Make sure that the Alliance hears nothing of this, understood?"

"Yes, sir."


	10. The Oracles' Answers

Anne panicked. How could she EVER tell which Kyomon was real? She remembered Amonæmon saying something about how the test was impossible, but she never really BELIEVED it! Then she thought about what might happen if she guessed incorrectly. She felt sick. Still, Kamemon needed her. But he might be dead. What was the use, then? She felt like just running out of there and going back home, giving up.

"Anne?"

She started. Then she remembered that Jonathan and Matt were there, also, the former being the one who spoke. "What?"

"Do you have any idea which one it is?"

"No…" But then she thought. Kyomon needed her, at least. She couldn't just give up on him. She willed herself to look at the four of them. One was real. The other three weren't. But which ones? If the original flapped his wing, the others did it at the exact same moment. She sighed and pulled out her D-Power. Maybe…

But it went haywire. It absolutely refused to respond. Then, all of the Kyomon mocked, "No cheating!"

Then something occurred to her. The original would never say that. She knew it. Then another thought struck her. Was it possible that…?

"None of you are real!"

There was a dead silence. All four of the Kyomon remained still. Then, breaking both the pattern and the silence, one of the Kyomon said in a FEMALE voice, "Ehh…not quite." Then, "she" looked at the other three. Two of them murmured together and nodded their heads in agreement with "her". The other one looked confused. Anne's heart sank; that was the real one.

"However," said one of the fakes, also in a female voice, though slightly lighter than the other one, "it was an educated guess, at least. Not just what some simpletons did, closing their eyes and jabbing their finger at a rock. You're the first in years to make such a wise decision."

Matt and Jonathan gawked. They couldn't believe it when she'd made her guess, and this was even more incredulous than that. There was a loud snap and the real Kyomon was hurled into Anne's arms, slightly dazed. Anne sighed in relief. She had no idea how lucky she was. Then the three remaining Kyomon transformed, much like in the same way Shedramon did, into what must've been the oracles.

Allegriamon, the first who'd spoken, looked sort of humanoid, with a dark scarlet cloak covering her face and reaching down to her waits, where it tucked into silky white leggings. She had four wings, black and white, arranged so that it looked like a checkered pattern. Qidamon, also humanoid, looked more like a harem girl, with white-blond hair and a lilac veil covering her eyes. Draliomon, the only male of the group, was more serpent-like, with a worn black cloak and metallic blades protruding from his arms. In a sick sort of way, he seemed to be a bit like PetitDracomon. "Now," he said, "what do you want to know?"

Anne thought. There were a lot of things she wanted to know, but mostly whether or not Kamemon was alive. Yet…Kyomon was there. Should she risk it? "I want to know where Kamemon is."

Allegriamon said, "He is much closer than you think."

"Is he alive?"

"That, I cannot tell. In a way, he is, but in another, he is not."

"How come we couldn't see PetitDracomon?" interrupted Jonathan.

"He melts with the night shadows," said Qidamon. "It is wise not to fight with him after sunset."

"How come Lestemon could see him?"

"Lestemon could see him only because he, too, was a night creature."

"And how many of the guardians are still alive?" asked Matt.

There was a slow silence. Then Qidamon continued, "There is but one. But as we speak, his life is in jeopardy. PetitDracomon will soon find him, and then the entire Digital World will be thrown off."

"Does he work for somebody?"

"He refused to. His creator made an offer, but he had no confidence in him, so he ran off."

"Who is his creator?"

"A lost virus."

More silence. Wait," said Anne. "What d'you mean, a lost virus?"

"A virus that was forgotten, abandoned, finished. But it must've been one with conscious thought, for he had an assistant."

"Who was?"

This time, Draliomon spoke. "About ten years ago, a girl was stuck in a bad coma. However, she woke up from it, suddenly. That was because the virus had been invading her mind, her soul, slowly recreating her spirit. She wasn't even human, though she looked it. She now had psychic powers that no normal human could claim…only a Digimon."

"So, in other words, she was half-digital?"

"Yes."

She remembered the story in the newspaper about finding the dead body of a girl in the Chunnel. Possibly it only just occurred to the assistant to fake her death? And then she remembered that her D-Power went off the first time she saw her…and the Japanese activity log. It all began to make sense. "Where is she now?"

"I do not know. But she has caused a great betrayal…not only to the entire Digital World, but to her master itself."

"What d'you mean?"

"She brought the death of her master with her when she came here."

"Nisamon?"

"No."

She sighed. This was even more confusing. "About this Master…are we going to kill him?"

"Do you want to know the answer?"

"I…I guess."

"No. But he will perish, nonetheless," he added quickly.

This didn't really help Anne a lot. Her heart sinking, she asked, "What was the name of this servant? Before she was made digital?"

"Jacquelyn McIntyre."

"Are we ever going to catch up to her?"

"Yes. But you'll be sorry you did."

"Why?"

"Some questions…are best left unanswered."

"Why?! I want to know why!"

"You will find out for yourself. And again, you will wish you hadn't. However, you will find something vital when you meet her. That alone will lead you to her Master's domain."

"Is her master a Digimon?"

"Of some sorts, yes."

"What kind is it?"

"A mutant."

"That's what you said PetitDracomon was!"

"Yes, but the Master is far more of a mutant."

Anne, by this time was getting frustrated. Then, Qidamon said, "It is getting dark. You may not want to continue on in the night."

"You're right about that," replied Jonathan. "That walking blade-bag is more than any of us can handle…"

"Walking is incorrect."

"Whatever—flying, I don't care."

* * *

PetitDracomon slowly drank in the data from the Digicore. The dying guardian, Azulongmon, was quivering on the ground, defeated. His death was imminent, and he knew it well. But what the guardian couldn't understand, however, was why anything would crave power so badly that they would even destroy the entire Digital World. If it was destroyed, the Real World would be in shambles, so there would be nothing left to rule. Nothing made sense anymore. "Why are you doing this?" he struggled to ask.

PetitDracomon didn't look down. "I do not need a reason."

"I've known Digimon like yourself! Trust me, if you destroy the balance of the Digital World, there won't be anything left!"

The lizard discarded the remains of the Digicore and spread his large, black wings. "So?"

"So?! You must have some sympathy in you, no matter how little!"

He folded his wings and arched his neck, creating a silhouette in the setting sun. "You only have sympathy if you are born with it. I was not. And I will never have use for it."

Azulongmon could sense the dangerously multiplying data within the wraith. "You are not born with sympathy, you earn it. Please, just give it a chance—"

"Oh, really, and give in to weakness?! I don't care about all this nonsensical balance crap, power is power! And even if your rambling is true, humans will deserve the chaos created! I thought by now that you would see that! Obviously, your thoughts are nothing but delusions!"

A long silence followed. PetitDracomon consumed the last of the Digicores. Then, Azulongmon said, "You will never get away with this."

PetitDracomon brought the long, sickle-like blade on his tail several feet above the guardian's neck. "Oh, shut up." He let the blade drop and felt the incredible multiplication of data in his body. He felt a rush of energy and hissed in satisfaction as nature took its course.


	11. The Balance is NOT a Contortionist...

Anne awoke with a start. She thought she heard something yelling from far off. Qidamon saw this, too.

"Wha? What happened?" mumbled Jonathan. He was apparently roused, but still half-asleep.

"Sounded like something yelling," replied Anne, now feeling wide-awake.

"It was," said Qidamon solemnly, dread in her usual light, airy voice. "The balance is bending so far out of contortion. If we're not careful, we'll have the apocalypse staring us right in the face."

"Oh. How typical," said Jonathan dryly. "I thought balances were made to be broken?"

"No. The balance is never broken, just bent. Any time darkness is defeated in any shape or form, the balance bends in favor of light."

"Let me guess. Vice versa?"

"Quite. But not only is it bent out of shape, if either side grows too strong, their power multiplies dangerously. This is why the death of the guardians was so important…we're not just losing an important Digimon, but darkness is also gaining two, three times the power as well."

Anne was the first to realize what this meant and shot up. "Wait, are you saying that PetitDracomon has been getting even more and more powerful than he would've if he'd just killed any Digimon as strong as the guardians?!"

"Yes. The balance is bending in his favor. Which most likely means he has evolved to his Mega form."

"Oh God," said another voice behind them. Matt had apparently been listening.

"You must leave immediately," Qidamon continued. "Otherwise, Dracomon will seek you out first."

"Dracomon…?"

"PetitDracomon. I told you, he has evolved. Go. But I must warn you…many deceptions will lie ahead of you. I bid you good luck."

~:~:~

Dracomon glided down the corridor with silent wings. He hadn't noticed how wide the halls were last time he was here. Perhaps he was too distracted at the time. He growled, remembering the woman's disrespect. Now look at him. He quietly assured himself if he ever encountered her again, he would give her his gratitude. If this "master" would approve. Perhaps he should ask "it"—which reminded him suddenly of why he was here.

He reached the stone, circular room with the broken skylight. Except it wasn't broken anymore. He landed softly, folding his still bladed wings as he glanced around the chamber. Yes, this room had definitely expanded since his last visit. Yet he knew it was the exact same place. How extraordinary.

_Bigger than you thought, hm?_

He knew at once what the voice belonged to as he focused on the swirling black mist in front of him. "What have you called me for?"

_For the same reason as last time. Only slightly different._

"I need details."

_Ah, yes. This time, I offer that we band together. As equals this time._

"And as equals the last time."

_No, wait, what I said was an understatement. I have seen the balance. You are, of course, much stronger than me._

"Yet I cannot harm you unless you have a solid form. Get on with it."

_Yes, yes, I suppose… This time, though, I have my mind set on such larger things than the humans' destruction. Whatever happened to world dominance? That way, we can quite possibly make much more use of the creatures._

"I note how you say 'we'."

_Why shouldn't I?_

"I have not made any deal."

He thought he heard a cold laugh. _Clever. Very clever. But think of it. It won't take long for me to take a solid form. After that, we can be partners, you at the front, being so much more powerful than I._

It did seem tempting. "Where is your little friend?"

_Jacquelyn? Tell you what, I don't know. I haven't been receiving response from the communicator. Well, wherever she is, I no longer have use for her. She is a mere mortal._

"I quite agree."

_So, do we have a deal?_

He mulled things over in his mind. Then…

"Yes."

_Good, good, very good._

"How long will it take for you to solidify?"

_Not long. Of course, I will most likely need your help._

"What d'you mean?"

_What I mean, my lad, is that my solidification doesn't happen naturally. Once the balance is in the correct proportions, _someone _will have to recite an incantation. Only then will it work. I do hope that someone will be you, my dear friend._

Its last word hung in the air for a few moments. A silence filled the air. Then Dracomon decided to risk a question. "Tell me…are you digital or not?"

Another cold laugh. _Time will tell. Right now I am Cyber. This very estate exists in the Cyber. Only the interior, though, of course. Any passageway outside leads directly to the Digital World or the Real World._

He knew that the Cyber was the state of existence between both worlds. Neither Digital, nor Real, the Cyber was a highly dangerous place where most new data was created. It also served as a shortcut to the Real World from the Digital World and vice versa…but more about that later.

~:~:~

"Tell me AGAIN what's going on?" said Kyomon for about the umpteenth time in a row.

"We have to find this Dracomon and put him out of commission," snapped Shedramon, rather irritated by this time. "Will you please mind shutting up?!"

Anne, however, was too preoccupied to listen to the heated argument that followed. Qidamon had said that many deceptions lay ahead, but what did that mean? I mean, they should've been the last ones to say anything about deceptions—

WHACK.

Something had smacked her in the back of the head, sending her flying into the foothill ahead. It was Kyomon. Apparently Shedramon had gotten a bit TOO annoyed and had thrown him, though probably not directly at Anne. She growled, shoved a dazed Kyomon off her, waved a repeatedly apologizing Shedramon off, and got up. Jonathan was trying his hardest not to laugh and Matt had given up ages ago. Anne glared at them both. They were entering some sort of a jungle, it appeared. She sighed and continued on. But not five minutes later she'd stumbled on another foothill and tumbled down it. It was a lot steeper than the other one. She growled and cursed under her breath.

Then she turned over.


	12. Elapidae Nightmares

Kyomon heard a scream. He had high suspicions it was Anne and darted forward to see her scrambling back up the hill, stumbling, looking back along the way. Now he could see she was hyperventilating. "Anne! Anne, what's wrong?!"

"Down…down there," she gasped. "Something…her…she…oh my God…I…"

Jonathan got the gist and slowly moved up to the edge of the hill. He saw something black and, for a fleeting moment, wondered what it could be. Then he saw light catch on something on the black object. Then he knew.

Jacquelyn. Facedown on the ground. With a large bloody hole in her back.

He took a deep breath, trying not to let himself get sick. Then he moved down to the body, slowly. The light caught on something on the ground nearby, again. He picked it up. It was a long, crystalline quill. Then he saw many more of them were embedded in her back. He picked it up; it seemed fragile, somehow. He decided to pocket it and went back to Anne. "I don't think we should continue this way," he said.

"You didn't need to tell me _that_ twice!" growled Anne. Kyomon had taken a look and blanched. "Where else can we go?" he asked.

"We could try going around it," Jonathan said. "C'mon, let's go."

Walking past the body again, however, Jonathan noticed an odd, black device near Jacquelyn's hand. Making sure no one else saw him, he ducked down and pocketed that, too. Something told him that it was important.

Anne had gotten over it in under an hour. The jungle was only getting thicker and a tense silence had grown. She just knew, somehow, that something was going to happen. She was right.

_"Kobuuuuuuuuuu!"_

"What was that?!"

"I don't know!"

"Is it a Digimon?!"

"How should I know?!"

"Everybody, shut _up!_"

Of the small party, Anne was the only one to keep her resolve while the other males were panicking. Another silence followed. Then another cry came from behind them, in a different, deeper voice.

_"Kobuuuuuuuuu!"_

Suddenly, a large Digimon jumped down from above them. It was about seven feet tall and had a giant snake's head which was entirely black except for two yellow stripes along its eyes, but a humanoid body from the neck down, completely covered in black armor that looked like Lestemon's. It had a long, steel, double-pointed javelin strapped to its back, which it drew, hissing. Anne heard a crash behind them, and whirled around immediately. Another Digimon was there that looked almost exactly like the other one, only it was a vibrant emerald green where the black was and had black stripes instead of yellow. This one drew a heavy curved sword from its back and advanced slowly.

"What are you doing here?" demanded the black one.

"We, uh, we were just, uh, passing through, ah, we're not looking for any trouble," stammered Penmon. Anne was surprised, since Kyomon would normally be the one to do this. But why—

_"Kyomon, Digivolve, to…Lestemon!"_

Oh. Sunlight glinted off the electric blue scales of the large, reptilian Digimon as he growled, "Back off."

The green one spoke this time. "Why should we? Are we trespassing on _our_ territory? I think not." He raised the sword, ready to strike. The black one also raised the javelin and hissed, "We should not have to worry from some simple Champion, besides. _Adiòs._" He raised the javelin. Anne quickly searched through her rucksack for her cards, when she found four cards that had not been there before. She pulled them out and looked at them. One was blue, one was gold, and the other two were silver. The blue one was nondescript; however, the gold one had a yin/yang symbol on it, and one of the silver ones had a separate yang symbol. [A/N: The black one with the white dot, silly.] The other one had the separate yin symbol. Lestemon growled and would have attacked had there not been another cry from the jungle.

_"KOBUUUUUUUUU!"_

Startled, the black snake lowered his javelin, as did the green one with his sword. This voice was different, more commanding—and female. Then, another snakelike form emerged from the jungle. Anne could only guess that this was the female voice. She resembled the other two Digimon—except that, unlike the others, she had a large hood. Her scales were a deep amethyst, and her armor was more metallic, more modern-looking than the other two. It, too, was black, but seemed to be somehow deeper. A deep, silver symbol was also on the chestplate. It looked like this, sort of: Ж. She growled and yelled "kobu" again. The other two snakes murmured "kobu" back. She then turned to Anne and said, "I am sorry for any trouble we have caused you."

"No," she said. "That's…quite all right. Er…who are you?"

"First, I think we should have the right to ask who are _you_, no?"

"My name is Anne Connor. This Digimon,"—she motioned to Lestemon—"is my partner Digimon, Lestemon. This is Jonathan and Penmon."

"I'm Matt," said Matt. "This is Shedramon. Now that our, introductions are out of the way, who are you?"

The large, purple snake nodded. "I am called Kobumon." She motioned towards the black snake. "This is Kraimon." Then she motioned to the green. "And this is Mambamon."

"Mamba?" asked Jonathan quizzically. "Isn't that some sort of dance?"

"It is not, you idjit," said Anne. "You bloody well know it's not. The mamba is a snake. Obviously, Kobumon is a cobra and Kraimon is a krait. Am I right?"

Kobumon looked confused for a moment, then shrugged, and said, "I guess so, but I don't really know."

"Could you do us a favor?" asked Anne.

"Depends. What do you need?"

"Well, first, have you seen a Kamemon?"

"Kah-may-uh _what?_"

"He looks like a green lizard, he's a bit smaller than Lestemon. Have you seen him?"

"…No, _lo siento._"

Anne's heart sank.

"However, we did see someone hauling a large, silver Digimon that looked like a cross between a horse and a dragon. Would that help?"

Nisamon! "Yes, thank you very much! Now, d'you know which way they went?"

She nodded. "We can take you there, if you wish."

"Yes, that would be very kind of you."

A few minutes later, Anne began to notice that Jonathan was lagging behind somewhat. "Cleese! Hurry up!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming…" When he reached her, she noticed something like a Palm Pilot in his hand.

"What's that?"

"Oh, this? I just found it, and—oh, frig!"

"What?!"

"Look at this, look at this!" he exclaimed quickly and shoved it into her hands. She looked at the screen and gasped. Jonathan had figured out how to get to pat transmissions on the device—one in particular.

"Jonathan!" she whispered loudly. "These are direct directions to London! St. James Park, even! _And_ exactly how to trap Nisamon! This was all planned by someone else!" Then she thought. "But…why—?"

"I already know all that," he said. " I looked at some other transmissions, too. You remember that list I showed you? Apparently, Jacquelyn's been breaking into those locations all over the world! The only one she missed was the Thread, but I think that was because it was new, but the most recent one before Nisamon was kidnapped was Hypnos in Japan. She's been collecting all these deletion programs and viruses, and I'm sure you can guess why.

"PetitDracomon."

"_Exactly._"

"But you can't just totally create a brand new Digimon out of anti-data! It's impossible, it has to be."

"Maybe it is. Remember what the oracles said? He was created out of fragments of destroyed Digimon. Possibly these Digimon, when mixed together, create something that resembles PetitDracomon. And the programs and viruses only add to his lethalness."

She shuddered. "Jonathan, don't scare me like that…"

"You know I'm dead serious."

"Yo, lovebirds!" called Matt. "Are you done chitchatting yet? We have a problem!"

"Go away, you bloody American!" called Anne back.

"Oh, wow, I'm so offended. Did you hear me? We have a problem!"

"What is it?"

"Someone has been here that does not belong here," said Mambamon, drawing his sword. Lestemon growled and Kraimon whipped out his javelin.

"What d'you mean, 'I don't belong'? Is that supposed to scare me off, like some little kit?"

The voice had come from behind them…but nothing was there. Instead, a humanoid Digimon dropped down in front of them. Anne pulled out her D-Power and scanned its data.

"Doumon, Ultimate level…that's all it says."

[A/N: Okay, I am NOT going to include a description for Doumon, because she does exist. For those who don't know what Doumon looks like, it's essentially a purple recolor of Taomon. Comprende? …Oh, and DON'T ask why I keep including Spanish in this chapter. @_@ … Also, to even attempt to see the very vague connection between Reptilia Draco and my other fic, Omen, go see Lunadramon's talk about the creation of Digimon in Omen. Por favor? ^ ^ ]

"Only an Ultimate?" sneered Kraimon. "Very well, then. _Neuro Shocker!_" A large green bolt of what appeared to be electricity shot out from the end of his javelin. Doumon dodged it with ease. "_Thousand Spells!_" Surprisingly, the attack slammed the Mega into a nearby tree. This time, Mambamon stepped forth.

"_Neuro Bolt!_"

"_Thousand Spells!_"

The attack had the same effect in Mambamon as it did Kraimon. The Ultimate still remained unscathed. Then Shedramon tried, to no avail. "This doesn't make sense," muttered Anne. "An Ultimate beat three Megas without getting harmed once. How can that happen?!"

Suddenly, Kobumon stepped forward. "It's my turn," she hissed.

"No," said Lestemon. "I'll go before you. You're the strongest…we need to save you for last."

"…Very well. Then I will aid you." She pulled out a sword, longer and straighter than Mambamon's. She stepped back. Anne hadn't said a thing until now. "Lestemon, don't…"

"I have to," he said, straightening his back.

"Oh, darn, and I was just about to finish off the main course," said Doumon. "Prepare to die."

The two engaged battle immediately. Doumon attempted her Thousand Spells attack, but Lestemon was too swift. He darted behind her and leaped on her back, digging his claws in her back. She screeched and attempted to throw him off, but to no avail. He grabbed two blades from his bandoleer and thrust them in her back. She yelled again and finally thrust him off her back and onto the ground. Blood flowing from the center of her back, she began physically attacking Lestemon.

"Lestemon!" Anne yelled. She knew she had to do something, but what? She looked in her rucksack blindly for her cards again, and pulled out what she thought what a speed card.

"Digimodify! Speed, activate!"

Nothing happened.

"What?!" She looked at the card. It wasn't the speed card, it was that weird blue card. _Oh, well, I guess it wouldn't hurt…_

"Digimodify! Er…blue card, activate!"

Perhaps they weren't quite the correct words, but they seemed to do something. Lestemon felt an incredible rush of data throughout his entire body.

"_Lestemon, Digivolve to…_"

He lost the bandoleer, and in return, gained a large, silver cloak, with two long rips in the back where the shoulder blades were. The black scales turned silver; the blue stripes were black. The quills were replaced with blades running down from his head to his nape of his neck. His left arm was also replaced a metal, mechanical one, with three long, curved claws on the end and something that looked like a gun barrel in the middle.

"…_GinLestemon!_"

GinLestemon threw Doumon off with ease and leapt up. He growled and Doumon growled back. The two circled each other when Doumon smirked and became airborne. "What's the matter?" she called down to him. "Little birdy can't fly?"

GinLestemon merely closed his eyes. "_Spirit Wing!_" he called, snapping his eyes open as a white, opaque ghostlike material gathered on the two rips in his cloak, forming two large, reptilian wings. He took flight after Doumon, who paled and went higher. "Silver Claw!" he yelled again, thrusting his three claws, now wide open, directly into Doumon's arm. She shrieked in pain and, panicking, made the mistake of pulling her arm up—which resulted in one nasty scar. Then she hissed, saying, "You'll pay for that, lizard scum!"

"What's wrong, little kit? Did I make a booboo on your brand new outfit?" sneered GinLestemon.

"_Thousand Spells!_"

The attack thrust GinLestemon into a tree. He was terribly shaken up and rather dazed, but not harmed enough to discontinue the fight.

"_Neuro Lightning!_"

The attack came out of nowhere. A large, electric green and black sphere shot out from Kobumon's sword directly into Doumon. She screamed and was instantly paralyzed, unable to move. "Now!" roared Kobumon over the chaos.

He raised his metal arm, the claws retracting so that the tips barely touched the surface of the barrel. "Titanium Bullet!"

Next thing anyone knew, the attack smashed into Doumon's bad arm. Unfortunately, the shock from the blast knocked the Neuro Lightning out of effect. She groaned in pain. "I'll get you soon," she said. "You can count on it." Then, she disappeared. She didn't die, that was obvious—she must've teleported, or something.

"Did we win?" said Kraimon dazedly from his resting-place at the foot of the tree.

"Not exactly," said Anne, grinning at the new Ultimate. "We'll explain later."


	13. Deceptions Anew

"Is this it?" asked Anne.

Kobumon, Kraimon, and Mambamon had led the small party consisting of Anne, Jonathan, Matt, and their Digimon to the very end of the jungle, which immediately broke out into yet another desert. Kobumon replied, "This is as far as we have scented the trail."

"Ah. I see," muttered Anne. Jonathan started to groan but was cut off by Anne, who elbowed him hard in the stomach.

"Ow! What was that for?!"

"Shut up, Cleese."

"Why? What'd I do?"

"Probably almost get our heads bitten off."

"How?!"

The two continued to argue like this and Kyomon sighed. "This is sad…"

"You're telling me," agreed Matt.

"Anne! Jonathan! There's no reason to fight!" interrupted Penmon, effectively cutting the argument short. The two glared at each other and Jonathan sighed, and said "He's right. Er, Kobumon, are you sure that this is th—" But as he turned around, the three Digimon were nowhere to be seen. "Bugger! Where'd they go?!"

"They have a territory to defend," said Anne. "Maybe they went off to defend it."

"Point."

"Besides, I think I can see something out there…" She caught a glint of gold. "Yeah, it looks sort of like a pyramid."

"D'you think that's where she went?"

"Where else could she _go_?" Matt reasoned. "I mean, it's not like there are any office buildings out here…"

"_D'accord._"

"Uh…yeah, what she said." Jonathan peered out into the desert. "How far off d'you think it is?"

"We should make it there by nightfall," said Shedramon.

"But it'd still probably take a while, so we should set off," said Anne.

"Yeah!" exclaimed Kyomon.

"I meant now, wyrm," she groaned. "Come on…" However, as they left, she couldn't help but notice a shadow—a seventh one—following Matt. What could that be?

~:~:~

"Jacquelyn? Jacquelyn, _are you there?!_"

Dracomon was trying for what must've been the millionth time to contact Jacquelyn, and yet, nothing came through. He snarled in frustration and finally gave up.

_She is dead, I'm afraid._

He didn't need to turn around to find the source of the reverberating voice. The Master was here. "Dead? Of what?"

_I don't know. I can't exactly decipher the source, but I know that if she were fully human, she'd still be alive._

"And yet, if she were fully human, none of this would have happened."

_I know. I have no regrets._

Dracomon sighed. "So, what do we do now? I have attained the Mega level, now what is the second part of our master plan?"

_Well, first, I daresay we should rid ourselves of a few visitors._

"Visitors?"

_Be expecting them. They are coming soon. I can feel it._

"Who exactly _are_ these visitors?"

_Three humans and four Digimon. Two Rookie; two Mega. Not nearly enough to withstand your strength, or mine._

He smiled to himself at the compliment. "Of course, there is always the chance that the two Rookies could Warp Digivolve to Mega level."

_Again, no match. But, ah…just be glad that Amonæmon is no longer with them._

"Him? Why should I be afraid of him?"

_Because he is the only one who can match your strength, besides the combined power of Allegriamon, Draliomon, and Qidamon._

"Fine then. After I've absorbed the data of these four, I'll just go give them all a nice surprise."

_I like your style. But you should still beware Chouwamon._

"Who?"

_Chouwamon, the ultimate paladin of the Tai Chi. Don't tell me you've never heard of him._

"No, but…it does sound a bit familiar. And why exactly should I fear him?"

_As long as the connection between the Digital World and the Real World is still alive and strong, he carries the fortified strength of the four Digital Guardians._

"Which shouldn't be much now that I have destroyed them all."

_I never said _they _had to be alive._

"So? Tell me, is he a guardian, himself?"

_Technically, yes._

"Then he shouldn't currently be in existence, now, should he?"

_Amonæmon…_

"So _what_ about Amonæmon? He's only ONE."

_Where there's smoke, there's fire._

"I realize that. I never said there wasn't. However, the power to Digivolve into him might be buried within some random Rookie Digimon somewhere out heaven knows where, and we all know how vast and complicated Digivolution lines are. Think of it as a blood vein. The vein has dozens of little capillaries leading off to somewhere else. And every vein has them. It's the exact same way with Digivolution lines. So, he might still never exist, or, even better, he might've been pushed out of existence already. Amonæmon was lucky."

_Interesting way of putting it._

"I know."

~:~:~

"What?!"

The pyramid they had seen was actually quite small. And that's an understatement. It only reached up to Anne's neck, and even then it was floating in the air. She groaned. "Great. Now what do we do?"

Kyomon thought. "Go inside it?"

Everyone glared at him.

"What? What'd I say?"

"It's too bleedin' _small_, wyrm," growled Jonathan. "And besides, I don't see a door anywhere."

Penmon, however, differed. He could feel some sort of energy charge from it…but what was it? Was it supposed to transport them to wherever Jacquelyn went? Or was it going to delete them? He shuddered at the thought. But he wasn't the only one to feel the charge. Anne could feel it too, though she couldn't place it with the pyramid. All she knew was that it felt like when she spotted the portal that had gotten them into the Digital World. Then, she realized, too, that it could be a portal. She took a chance and reached out to touch it…and nothing happened. It was cold, smooth stone. That was all. She bit her lip and stepped back. "What are we supposed to do?" she repeated, more to herself than anything. Then she looked back and noticed that odd shadow that hovered around Matt.

Shadows…

"Uh, Anne, what are you doing?"

She was searching through her rucksack. For _what_? "Jonathan, look for something…a mirror, a flashlight, anything like that!"

"Why?"

"I have an idea!"

"What?"

"If we can get enough light on the pyramid to create a shadow, we just might be able to find something!"

"Can't we just wait for the sun?" queried Matt.

"_What_ sun?"

"…Oh. Right."

"Did you find a flashlight yet?!"

"No, how about you?"

She groaned. "No…" She started looking through her cards for anything that might help. Then she came across the Kyubimon card. Might as well… "DigiModify! Kyubimon's Dragon Wheel activate!"

"Huh?!" yelped Kyomon, bewildered.

"Just do it! On the pyramid!

"Okay…" He darted up into the air and curled up as if to do a Tail Snap attack. "_Dragon Wheel!_"

As the blue fire smashed against the stone, for one brief moment, she could see a shadow. But only for a moment, and then it was gone.

"If you're thinking what I'm thinking, I can't just keep doing that…"

"I know, wyrm," she groaned.

"Wait a minute," said Matt. Then his eyes widened. "I get it!" Then he pulled out a card. "DigiModify! Shapeshift Digivolution activate!"

At first, Anne was confused. Megas couldn't Digivolve…right? But then Shedramon's eyes blazed red. "_Shedramon, Shapeshift Digivolve to…Zhuqiaomon!_"

Now she understood. Where Shedramon was, there was a giant, red phoenix. "Phoenix Fire!" he called out, aiming the attack at the pyramid. This time, the shadow was held long enough for Anne to see the details.

It was shaped like a door.

A door…?

"Wait…do it from the other side," said Anne.

Zhuqiaomon switched over to the left side of the pyramid, never once stopping the onslaught. It was rectangular. Again. Anne walked over to the previous side and brushed her hand against it. It was extremely hot, but there was definitely something solid in front of the pyramid. But why was it only there now?

The attack stopped. He couldn't keep it up any longer. Suddenly, the solid thing seemed to cave in somehow…and something black replaced it. A portal, no doubt.

"Whoa…"

After Matt had gotten Zhuqiaomon to "Digivolve" back into Shedramon, the party went through the portal…to be greeted by a swirling, grey and black fog with random numbers and letters flitting about.

"Now what?" asked Jonathan.

"We went through this when we came to the Digital World," said Penmon before she could answer. "Only, we went through it so fast, you could barely notice it."

"What?! You mean we're going back to the Real World?!"

"Not if I can help it," replied Penmon, pointing at a glint of white. "See? There's a rip. It's just like the portal we went through to get here, only…it doesn't lead to the Real World."

"Where does it lead to?"

"I dunno…"

"Well, c'mon," said Anne, a bit irritated. "We're never going to find out if we just stay here, right? And besides, I'm willing to bet that Jacquelyn left that portal when we got to the Digital World, so she must've left this one, too."

"Good point."

"You sound surprised at that. Why should you be?"

It took a bit for Jonathan to grasp the meaning of that sentence. "…Hey!"

She stifled a laugh and headed for the portal. Instantly, she was sucked in. "Whoa!" And just moments later, Kyomon came shooting out after her. "Hey, watch it!"

"I didn't know you were there! …Where are we?"

She looked around. The place was completely white, with no visible walls, floor, ceiling, or sky. She and Kyomon were both floating in midair. [A/N: Think the Internet from the second movie, only without all the weird spirals/designs/thingies.] Jonathan, Penmon, Matt, and Shedramon came soon after.

And yet…she just couldn't shake off this feeling that someone else was there.

"So," said Penmon breathlessly. "_This_ is what the Cyber looks like."

"The Cyber?" questioned Anne.

Penmon nodded. "It's a dimension lying just between the Real World and the Digital World, and it's basically the only thing separating the two. From what I've heard, it was supposed to be really skinny and stretched out…only…this is _much_ different…"

"What's that?" asked Jonathan, pointing at something. Anne looked at whatever it was, and found that it was some black orb…that was rapidly nearing them.

"Oh, God, what is that?!"

But just as the words left her lips, the orb had engulfed them, and everything was black.

~:~:~

_They're here._

"Showtime…"

~:~:~

"Oww…where are we?"

They'd landed in a heap in a wide stone hallway. Anne struggled to look up and saw a large, domed crystal skylight. She groaned, shoved Kyomon off her, and slowly got to her feet. Now that she looked around a bit, she saw that the corridor went on for what seemed like an eternity both in front of her and behind her. It would've been pitch black had there not been flickering torches set high up on the wall every ten feet or so. She turned around and saw the others also in a heap. But then she saw something else.

"AUGH! WHO'S THAT?!"

She _knew_ there was someone else in their party. There was another Digimon there, about the size of Shedramon. Matt quickly got to his feet and hurriedly said, "No, it's all right! It's only Cloakmon!"

"_Who_?!"

"Cloakmon. He's my partner Digimon, also."

"How come we couldn't see him?!" demanded Jonathan.

"He was invisible," Matt explained. "Cloaked. Get it? We share a telepathic bond."

There was a dazed silence for a moment, then Cloakmon said, "Er, pleased to make your…acquaintance…"

"Oh, never mind," said Anne. "We need to figure out where we are."

They started off down the corridor after a short argument on which direction to go, then Kyomon started a Dragon Breeze attack and it was quickly decided. Of course, there was no telling whether they went north, south, east, or west, or anything in between, so I can't really tell you which direction they went. As they went down the hallway, they began to notice stone doors. But all were locked. Eventually, though, they reached a door that was open. Curious, Anne pushed it open—to reveal a white room, looking not much different from a lab. The room sent chills up her spine…somehow, without knowing how she knew, she knew Jacquelyn was here.

She sighed and walked out of the room. Since they had been walking for about ten minutes without getting anywhere, she asked Kyomon to see if he could get any of the locks on the other doors open.

_I'm afraid that won't work._

"What was that?!" asked Anne, quickly. The voice had felt like it came from everywhere at once, and yet, it wasn't quite so soft as if it'd been in her mind.

_Keep going until you see the light._

What light? But just as she thought that, she thought she could hear a humming noise and saw a very faint light at what seemed like the very end of the corridor. "There!" shouted Jonathan, so she knew she wasn't the only one who heard it. "Come on!"

They almost ran down the hallway, until they reached a high, arched opening into a wide, domed room that had the same skylight as there was when they'd fallen into whatever this place was. The room seemed as big as a house, but might well have been bigger, since there was nothing but shadows at the very end.

"Welcome to Nightmare. I trust you will enjoy your stay."

Anne whipped around to the source of the voice, which was from the shadows. What little light there was glinted off the smooth, scaled skin of a huge Digimon, larger than anything they'd ever seen. It spread its wings.

"My name is Dracomon. Let us begin."


	14. Dracomon's Guise

"Wait a minute!" shouted Anne. "What is this place?!"

Dracomon cocked his head slightly. "This place is called Nightmare. It is a darker section of the Cyber…unless you can fly, there is no way out. Many an unfortunate Digimon has stumbled across this place. None have survived." He looked with distaste at Penmon and Kyomon. "I advise you get your Digimon to Digivolve. Otherwise, I'm afraid they won't stand a chance."

"Wait…we're going to _fight?!_"

"Oh, I'm sorry, you didn't know that? Now, your Digimon must Digivolve. I will not allow you to _not_ have them do it."

Anne gritted her teeth, but Kyomon shot a concerned look back at her. She sighed and pulled out a card. "DigiModify! Digivolution activate!"

"Kyomon, Digivolve to…Lestemon!"

"Penmon, Digivolve to…Sabirdramon!"

Jonathan had gotten Penmon to Digivolve, as well. Dracomon sighed. "Is that it? Oh, well…" The huge dragon's eyes blazed red and one of Anne's cards turned into a Blue Card. One of Jonathan's turned black. Anne felt obliged.

"DigiModify! Matrix Digivolution activate!"

"DigiModify! Matrix Digivolution activate!"

"Lestemon, Matrix Digivolve to…GinLestemon!"

"Sabirdramon, Dark Matrix Digivolve to…SvalBirdramon!"

The black Birdramon had turned into a blue one, but on closer look, it seemed to resemble Phoenixmon more than Birdramon.

[A/N: This ain't the same SvalBirdramon from Omen. Comprende?]

Dracomon looked satisfied. "Two Megas, two Ultimates. That seems fair enough." He arched his neck. "_Darkness Wave!_" GinLestemon summoned his Spirit Wing and managed to dodge the huge mass of black energy, as did Cloakmon and Shedramon, but it clipped SvalBirdramon. He screamed out in pain, and was immediately caught by Dracomon's large tail. The giant lizard slammed him against the wall and mercilessly twisted him. SvalBirdramon screeched out in pain once more, and reverted back to Penmon. Dracomon effortlessly flicked him back at Jonathan, who barely caught him.

"Penmon!" he yelled. "Are you all right?!"

"I…I'll be…fine…"

"Shedramon!" called Matt. "Attack, now!"

"Plasma Ta—" started Shedramon, but was immediately cut off by the massive tail, which swung up under him, curled around his body, then hurled him into the wall. He instantly reverted to his Rookie, DemiAngemon. Matt blanched and ordered Cloakmon to attack.

"Cross Cru—" Cloakmon started, but was again cut off by the brutal attack that Shedramon received, and reverted to his Rookie, DemiSatamon. Matt was speechless.

So was Anne. Dracomon had just taken out two Mega level Digimon and one Ultimate. Now, only GinLestemon was left. But did he stand a chance?

[A/N: The attacks were Plasma Tail and Cross Crusher. Thought it might help. ^_^()]

Sensing what Anne what feeling, GinLestemon called down from his position in the air, "I'm ready to fight to the death!"

So be it. She had no choice in the matter.

"Silver Claw!"

GinLestemon sped toward Dracomon, claws fully extended. He ducked his tail, which tried to snake its way around him. GinLestemon finally hit home, digging his mechanical claws into Dracomon's shoulder. The lizard hissed in pain, but the tail managed to worm its way over. GinLestemon again dodged it, and struck again. And again. And again. This was getting too easy. But then, he barely saw it coming.

WHACK.

The tail had finally found its target, sending GinLestemon into midair. Then, the deadly pointed tip of the tail darted forward, aimed directly at his chest. GinLestemon managed to swerve out of the way, but still got badly clipped on the side. He fell to the ground and reverted to Kyomon.

"_Kyomon!_"

Anne was immediately at his side. "Kyomon, are you okay?!"

"I'll be fine…" Then his head snapped up. "Let me go! I have to fight him!"

"No, you don't! You almost got killed!"

But his eyes were glowing red. She knew he wasn't listening. She could feel a slight charge come from his body, as if he was about to Digivolve. But something wasn't right…

"_Kyomon, Dark Warp Digivolve to—_"

"No!" Anne disrupted the evolution by hugging him close. "Don't! There is no way you can win! Can't you bleedin' _see_ that?! He's just pushing you! He just wants you to Digivolve so he can get more data when he kills you! It's a trap! He doesn't want a fair fight at all!"

"Anne…" Kyomon's eyes had returned to normal, but he gently pushed her away from him. "I know I shouldn't fight, but I won't give up, either. At the very least, I can take some comfort in knowing that I didn't go without hitting him hard and hitting him fast."

She was about to protest, but she knew by the look in his eyes that he was still going to fight. "…Fine." She dug around in her rucksack for a card, and pulled out the silver card with the yang on it. "Here goes nothing… _DigiModify! Silver Card, activate!_"

Kyomon's entire being glowed white as he darted up into the air.

"_Kyomon, Warp Digivolve to…_"

Her first impression was a black knight. He was entirely covered in black armor, with two gauntlets that curved forward and ended in a deadly point, completely covering his hands. His helmet was rounded, with a crest reaching back and also ending in a sharp point. The helmet covered his entire head, except for his jaw, which was also pitch black.

"_…Kurodramon!_"

She scanned his data. "Kurodramon, Mega level, Yang Paladin Digimon…attacks are Yang Force, Black Flash, and Brother Call." She gazed up at him. "Wow…" Then she realized something. Could Kyomon be her real partner, instead of Kamemon? The thought startled her. All this time, she'd thought that Kyomon had just been a temporary replacement, to make sure she got through the Digital World all in one piece. Then, when she found Kamemon, he'd become wild again. She'd never actually considered him to be her _real_ partner. But that would mean that Kamemon…

No. He couldn't be gone. It wasn't possible.

Was it? Of course it was. She became dazed.

"Nice," mused Dracomon. "This should make the battle more interesting." The tail darted forward again, but Kurodramon had braced himself and caught it, digging the gauntlets into it. Dracomon hissed in pain again and flicked his tail over, sending the lightweight Digimon in midair. Kurodramon had managed to stop himself before he hit the wall and held the deadly tip of the gauntlets about a foot apart, summoning a ball of fire. "Yang Force!" He hurled the fireball at Dracomon, which twisted into a snakelike chain of fire, wrapping itself around the dragon. His face contorted in pain, but he managed to shake it off.

"Darkness Wave!"

Kurodramon pierced through the massive amount of dark energy effortlessly. "Black Flash!" he called out, then seemed to teleport right behind Dracomon. However, there was a long gash in the dragon's shoulder. Jonathan stared and said, "Damn, he's fast…" Anne agreed, to herself. Kurodramon seemed to be invincible.

_Seemed_ to be.

Then, Dracomon's tail swerved up under him, catching him off guard. The lizard squeezed tight, forcing all the air out of him. He grew lightheaded. Anne could easily see the problem. "Kurodramon!"

Dracomon cocked his head again, at her call. "Mm…oh, fine, I'll let you live. For a while longer. Then I won't show you any mercy." He released the death grip and Kurodramon spiraled down to the ground before catching his breath. He growled and darted up into the air again. "Yang Force!" The blaze was stronger this time, and much larger. Anne could feel the heat sting her face. "_Yang Force!_"

From then on, he began attacking fiercely with the fire, never once letting up. It got through Dracomon's hide, and he could barely hide the pain. Then he roared, catching Kurodramon in his tail again. He didn't quite constrict so tightly, but it was firm enough so that Kurodramon couldn't move at all, and the bladed edge of his tail crept up to his neck. "Now you must _pay._"

Wait. There was still one attack that Kurodramon hadn't used yet—Brother Call. "Kurodramon!" yelled Anne up to him. "Use your Brother Call!"

"_What?!_"

"Brother Call! Just do it!"

Kurodramon fell still in silent agreement. Then he hissed lowly, before throwing back his head, letting loose a high, long shriek that was so high-pitched Anne couldn't hear it, but it still felt like it was tearing her ears apart. She clamped her hands over them before looking up to see what the attack was doing to Dracomon.

Nothing.

Bloody hell.

But, still…there seemed to be some sort of gleam in his eye as he cocked his head, yet again. There seemed to be genuine curiosity in those eyes as he released Kurodramon, who backed away slowly. Then they seemed to soften as he lowered his head. But there was some sort of an odd hum as he snapped his head back up, his eyes returned to normal and blazing red yet again. He spread his wings as he began the incantation.

"_Thy wings of both feather and scale, scorpion body, claws and tail. Head of dragon, heart of night. Release thy power; release thy might!_"

Then his eyes seemed to soften again as he sighed, and said, "Forgive me…"

He glowed white. Anne realized he was either going to delete or de-Digivolve. When she realized he most likely wasn't going to delete, she began wondering what he would de-Digivolve into. Whatever it was, it wasn't going to be _too_ hard for Kurodramon to finish it off.

Until she saw exactly what it was.

There was a limp, still, green form lying on the ground. Her heart stopped.

"_Kamemon!_" She rushed over to him as Kurodramon landed. "Kamemon…"

The chameleon Digimon looked weakly up at her. "Anne…I'm sorry…"

"No," she whispered. "It wasn't your fault…it was that bloody wench, Jacquelyn…everything's okay—"

"No, it's not!" exclaimed Kamemon, snapping his head up. "I recited the incantation! We have to get out of here! Now!"

"What? Why—"

"No time for explanation, just _go!_"

_I'm afraid it's too late for that, my good friend._

Both of them froze. Anne recognized it as the voice that had directed them to this room. "Kamemon…do you know what that is?"

"The Master," he whispered, turning back to an arch that had been previously unnoticed. A thick, black fog swirled around it.

__

Thy wings of both

Feather and scale;

Scorpion body,

Claws, and tail.

The fog thickened and formed into a cyclone. "Kamemon, what's going on?!"

"He's taking on his true form," he said without looking at her, as they backed towards the others.

__

Head of a dragon,

Heart of night.

Release thy power;

Release thy might!

The fog died down a bit…to reveal a creature that didn't look like it belonged in the Digital World or the Real World. Like the incantation had described, it was massive, with two wings—one leathery, like a dragon's, and the other feathered, like a bird's. Its head resembled MetalSeadramon's, only without the cannon. Its body below the wings were that of a scorpion's, with a huge stinger curling up behind it. Large, muscular arms extended into sharp, menacing pincers. Its entire body was black, and the randomly assorted body parts melted evenly into each other, and had red, soulless eyes. It snapped a pincer and smirked down at the others. "Thank you for your help, Kamemon," it said. It was the same voice, only without such resonance. "But now your use has expired. I have no other need for you. _Sayōnara._"

~:~:~

Thus, the inevitable final battle that signifies Reptilia Draco's end. ^_^ Actually, change that to Reptilia Draco _1_. ^_~ Please review, if you have a care!!


	15. Paladin of the Tai Chi

****

DISCLAIMER: The Master Virimon is mine. Comprende? Oh, did I mention that I don't own Matt, DemiAngemon, DemiSatamon, or any of their forms? I don't think so… KingCodeBoy also was the one who mentioned the attack, Claw Crusher, or some 'ut along those lines. Arigato! ^_^

****

Note: In case you didn't know, didn't care to find out, or just didn't plain pay attention, RD and Omen both take place between the seventh Tamers episode and Hypnos' crash and burn. Exactly where, I can't say. As for any of my other Digimon fics, they take place whenever you damn well please. BTW, just as in Azure Flame, whenever I change perspectives, viewpoints, etc., I'm going to separate it with a single tilde ( ~ ). And any comments or side notes I added are in brackets ( [] ). Okeys?

~:~:~

The giant, black beast snapped a pincer. Anne cringed and scanned its data. "Virimon…type, Virus, attacks, unknown…level, Ultimate? It's only an Ultimate?!"

Kamemon looked up at the thing with fearful eyes. "No…the Digivice is confused. Normally, a Virimon is a very weak and simple Digimon created from the fragments of destroyed computer viruses. They're usually either Champion or Ultimate levels, and they also look closer to Godzilla than…_that_. But he…he's different." He swallowed nervously. "He was made up from the fragments of many different, deadly viruses and deletion programs alike. At first, instead of being a Digimon, he was a being of the Cyber. When I was Dracomon, he stole part of the data I received and compounded it to make a form for himself. And that's all I know."

So. Dracomon wasn't the mutant. The Virimon was.

"I am afraid you have made one mistake," cut in the giant beast. "I am not just a Virimon. I am the Master Virimon." He opened up a pincer slowly, energy crackling between the claws. "It is time for you to go.

"_Andromeda!_"

~

"Sir, something's happening!"

"What?!" Yamaki had assumed that the Threadfall had just _disappeared_, for some reason, but now it was picking something up…and it wasn't a Digimon. "What _is_ that?!"

"I don't know, sir…it's not an anomaly."

"I can _see_ that," he growled. The signal seemed to be rather faint, though… "Where is it coming from?"

"Wha—I don't believe it! It's…it's Threadfall! It's trying to breach!"

"_What?!_"

"It's coming from the Digital World!"

"That's not possible! How did it get _there?_"

"I don't know, sir, but it's there!"

This wasn't good. Threadfall was basically a pure deletion program. Generally, the Digital World was what carried the entire Internet…and if it destroyed everything in existence that would _not_ be good.

"Sir, it's going to breach!"

"How long?"

"I…I don't know."

~

Kurodramon just barely missed the attack. He could feel the heat as it zoomed past, destroying anything it touched. Anne, on the other hand, was alarmed. Wasn't Andromeda the name of a computer virus? She hoped not…

"Swift, I see." Master Virimon smiled. "But don't you worry, I'll catch you yet. Now, wouldn't that be nice? Think of it…your ordeal with Dracomon must've left you in a lot of pain. I can cure what ails you with one stroke…wouldn't you like that?"

"Don't listen to him!" Anne yelled up to Kurodramon. But it was easy to see that Kurodramon was seriously wounded. He couldn't carry on much longer…

"_Claw Crusher!_"

Kurodramon just barely managed to duck the swift strike, but it still clipped him. He didn't cry out, but it was easy to see he was in a lot of pain.

"Anne," said Kamemon, "please, let me try."

"What? You can't!"

"Don't do this to me like you almost did to him!" There was a mad glint in his eye. "I heard you! And I don't want to have to Digivolve to Dracomon again to prove my point! Kurodramon is badly beaten up; there _has_ to be another one of those cards!"

"There…there is." In reluctant defeat, Anne pulled out the other silver card with the yin on it. "Go ahead."

Kamemon nodded back at her, then turned to face the Master Virimon.

"_DigiModify! Silver card, activate!_"

"_Kamemon, Warp Digivolve to…Shirodramon!_"

Anne was stunned at what she saw. It was another Kurodramon…only, completely _white._ Only then did she realize that both Kyomon _and_ Kamemon were her partner Digimon. Shirodramon held his gauntlets together, gathering a blue fire.

"Yin Force!"

It spread out in the same way that Kurodramon's attack did. The attack seemed to be next to useless, though; it merely slammed into and discharged against Master Virimon.

"Is that the best you can do? Honestly…" This time, the black beast gathered energy in both of his pincers.

"_Melissa!_"

~

"Sir! It's picking up another signal!"

The first one had faded away…now, it was replaced with a much stronger one. It definitely wasn't a Digimon. The signal for Threadfall was also growing stronger…and it was advancing toward the unnatural anomaly like a ravenous wolf toward prey.

It seemed completely out of control.

"How long until the Threadfall breaches?"

"About…about ten minutes, sir."

~

At first, Anne was confused…but then, as the massive wave of anti-data energy just barely missed Shirodramon and Kurodramon, Anne realized something. The Melissa virus. One of the deadliest computer viruses ever created.

"We're doomed." If he tried another attack like that, then…

"Hmm…very nice. I see that both of you are gifted with speed. But no amount of speed,"—he then pointed a pincer directly at Anne—"is going to save your partners."

Anne paled as energy started crackling between the outspread claws. She was going to die. This thing cared about fair fights about as much as Dracomon did. She was going to die. It wasn't a question of ransom; they had nothing that the Master Virimon wanted. _She was going to die._

"Claw Crusher!"

"_Dragon Drill!_"

She shut her eyes, anticipating the massive amount of energy; but it never came. Shirodramon had used an attack similar to Kurodramon's Black Flash to slice through the energy, disrupting the attack. Amazingly, he wasn't hurt at all. He turned on Master Virimon, who was not, in the least, impressed.

"Interesting. Of course, I should've expected you would try to protect her." The stinger arched back. He was going to try another attack. "Melissa!"

But the wave wasn't as strong. Shirodramon easily dodged it.

~

"It's happening again!"

The Threadfall signal had been growing stronger than ever. It was advancing rapidly toward the target. _Six minutes to breach…_

~

So far, none of the attacks were doing anything. Even if the two Megas could dodge the attacks, they couldn't keep it up for long. Anne was beginning to worry.

"Anne!" called Penmon. At first, she was shocked; she had almost forgotten about the others, but now she remembered. "Use the gold card!"

"The…the what…?"

"Do it!"

She suddenly remembered about the fourth card and dived into her rucksack to pull it out. "Wait a minute…how do you know—?"

"_Hurry!_ Or he's going to get them!!"

_All right…_ She slashed the card, hoping for the best.

"DigiModify! Gold card activate!"

Both Shirodramon and Kurodramon began to glow white. A crazy thought flashed across Anne's mind: _Are they going to Digivolve?!_

Actually, it wasn't all that crazy.

DNA DIGIVOLUTION

ACTIVATE_

~

"Four and a half minutes to breach, sir…"

_I know that_, he growled silently. This was beginning to get out of hand.

~

_"…Chouwamon!"_

The Digimon that hovered in Kurodramon and Shirodramon's place seemed to be a mixture of both Digimon. He basically had the same figure as either one, but there seemed to be some sort of a split going down the middle; on his upper body, he was both black and white, but on his lower body, it was reversed to form some sort of a checker pattern. The helmet was split in the same way as his lower body. The claw-gauntlets also went backwards, revealing clawed, reptilian hands. He had two feathered wings; one black, the other white. There was also a large sword at his side, and a shield attached to his left arm bearing the _tai chi_ symbol [yin/yang symbol]. The Master Virimon was visibly alarmed.

"Well, well, well," said Master Virimon. "Interesting trick. But I do not fear a Guardian."

_A Guardian?_ Anne thought wildly. _Kyomon and Kamemon are Guardians?!_

Chouwamon didn't flinch, nor say anything. He merely drew the sword and held it out in front of him. "You will pay for the balance, mutant."

"I? But was it not you who did my dirty deeds?"

"Was it I who chose to do those deeds in the first place?" Chouwamon replied, with a bit of a sneer to his voice.

Master Virimon had nothing to say to that—except to attack. "Andromeda!"

Chouwamon swung back and immediately raised his shield, dispelling the anti-data energy aimed at him everywhere. He then held the sword out in front of him again, which began humming with energy. "Harmony Blade!"

The attack slammed into the Master Virimon, doing visible damage; but not much. He then sheathed the sword.

"Claw—"

"_Tai Chi Force!_"

Chouwamon's last attack was in the same manner of Yin or Yang force, but instead, it was a combination of the blue and crimson fire. It spread out over the Master Virimon's body, his face contorting in pain. But he still did not cry out.

A heavy silence followed.

~

"Two minutes to breach…"

~

Anne thought she heard a humming sound. Jonathan heard it too, but closer. He suddenly remembered the tiny glass needle he picked up when they found Jacquelyn. He quickly pulled it out. It was vibrating madly, and glowing whitish silver.

"Jonathan," Anne called back to him, "what's that?"

"I don't know…" It suddenly shot out of his hand and straight at Master Virimon. It…_burrowed_ through the black mutant's arm, causing him to scream out in pain. It then emerged from the other side and clattered on the floor, harmless. Anne wondered why the process seemed so familiar…then she realized where she'd heard of it before.

That was a Thread. It had to be. The silver color, the burrowing…everything. But why would there be a Thread in the Digital—

Project Threadfall.

Oh no.

~

"One and a half minute to breach!"

It was obvious, now. The Threadfall was going seriously out of control.

~:~:~

The only reason I put the DNA Digivolution thingy in that format was because…uhm…I felt like it. I can't give you any better reason. ^_^()

****

COMING: EPILOGUE! Yay!!


	16. Epilogue - Threadscores

The humming noise grew stronger. Anne nervously backed away, as did the others. Master Virimon smirked, despite the immense pain that lingered after the Thread had burrowed through his arm. "Running away, are you? Why be so slow? Do you anticipate your deaths?"

"It would seem that you anticipate your own," growled Chouwamon, who was also moving away, slowly.

"Hm? My, whatever are you talking about?"

The humming got louder, then, all of a sudden stopped. _This could mean anything_, Anne realized. Then she saw a sudden silver flash circle around the black beast. Annoyed, he attempted to swat it away. But it dodged his every move. She held her breath anxiously. How it could be reacting like this if it was just a program? The stinger snapped back and forth, attempting to catch the rogue Thread. A pincer snapped over it, but the Thread glided away. Then it paused. The pincer snapped again, but the silvery Thread skimmed over it and embedded itself into the Master Virimon's chest. He screamed out in pain once more, and then it came out the other side and dropped to the floor, harmless. He stood in shock, unable to move.

Then another Thread came. And attacked. Then another. And another.

Soon, there was a barrage of the Threads, opening up into a fully formed Threadfall. The Master Virimon was powerless against the silver needles of anti-data. Then, suddenly, his arm disappeared in a flash of bloody data. He roared out in pain. Anne almost felt sorry for the mutant. No, not sorry. Scared. Scared of what that thing could do to them. Chouwamon still hovered in the air, expressionless. He had nothing to do in the matter, so he let it be. Another arm deleted. Then a clawed leg. And the stinger. His digital mass was giving in to the blitzkrieg. He collapsed to the ground, moaning in pain. The Threads followed without skipping a beat. More legs started disappearing. Then he threw back his head in one last scream.

_"Why?!"_

Then he started to fully delete. The Threads began to cling together in clumps to attack every last piece of data until there were none left. The Master Virimon was no more.

That was when Anne started to panic. Because the Threads had stopped in midair. And they looked like they were heading towards them.

Chouwamon instantly realized the imminent danger and descended sharply to the ground and held up his shield. "_Unity Shield!_" Instantly, a thin, white veil seemed to spread out over the small group, and just in time. The first Thread struck against the barrier, doing nothing. Then the entire onslaught followed. Nothing was really happening. Then more came, and more, even more than the ones that had attacked the Master Virimon. It was obviously taking more of an effort to hold up the shield; Chouwamon was visibly straining to keep it up. Then they started gathering in clumps. The clumps shattered against the barrier, but they were still weakening it. Chouwamon was starting to slide back, little by little, and the barrier was starting to close in on them. Anne started to panic. What was going to happen if the barrier broke, or, even worse, caved in on them?

~

"Ten seconds to total breach, sir…"

Yamaki started counting to himself. What was going to happen if Threadfall was unleashed on the Internet? Nobody would forget about _that_ one. Plus, it was essentially dangerous. There was only one option.

"Riley, shut down the program."

"What? But, sir—"

"You heard me, _shut it down!_"

~

Anne could see small dents in the barrier. They were doomed. She knew it. She looked up and thought she saw a small crack. _Oh no…_

Chouwamon noticed, too. Up till now, he had no idea what to do. Then he got an idea. He focused all his energy into the dead center and rim of the barrier. Then, slowly, he started pushing down on the center. Before long, the bottom rims started to curl up.

_Any minute now…_

Suddenly, much to everyone's surprise, the barrier snapped up far too soon, closing off the Threads. At first, Chouwamon thought it was a success. But then the barrier shattered altogether. He braced himself for the barrage of needles…

Which never came.

The Threads had fully deleted in midair. Anne bristled, expecting something even worse to come. But nothing did. Project Threadfall had been deactivated. She sighed as a wave of sudden elation spread over her. All they needed to do now was just get back home in one piece. Then it was over.

"So…now what?"

Jonathan's voice pierced through her thoughts. She looked back at them and realized that she had basically the same question. "Right. How do we get out of here?"

"Up."

Anne turned back to Chouwamon, who was gazing skywards at a large hole in the skylight. "You're not serious."

"I am."

"Then how do we get to the Real World after that? Actually, how do we even get through there?!" The hole was jagged and looked rather haphazard. Chouwamon walked over to Anne and picked her up. "Hey, wait, what d'you think you're doing?! Put me down, I don't want to get cut to pieces! Didn't you hear me, PUT ME DOWN!!"

Chouwamon wasn't listening. "Penmon, Digivolve to Sabirdramon and get the others. I'll make the hole bigger."

"_What?!_ If you're going to do THAT, then would you at least mind putting me down first?!"

"Just be quiet and hang on."

When Anne realized that no matter how stubborn she was he wasn't going to put her down, she hastily clung to his neck as they started to fly up towards the hole. Suddenly, another barrier was raised around the two of them seconds before they got to the hole, effectively widening it enough for anything to get through it. Anne blinked, her eyes readjusting to the sudden whiteness of the Cyber. Only then did she realize exactly how dark it was in Nightmare. After a few minutes, Sabirdramon appeared, along with Jonathan, Matt, DemiSatamon, and DemiAngemon. Then she saw a long, greenish-black band some ways away from them. It seemed to just hang in the middle of it all, staying in one place instead of wildly spinning about like Nightmare. She realized it must be the link connecting the Real World and the Digital World. Chouwamon sped toward it, as did Sabirdramon.

When they broke through, they were in the same place that they were in when they first crossed through to the Cyber, through the pyramid. The Real World wasn't very far away. They just needed to get out in the right spot. Luckily, Chouwamon knew exactly where that was. But, still…

"Matt…you're from America, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Are you sure that you're going to get out in the right place?"

He shrugged. "I was just planning on going back to the Digital World. Any idiot can find out how to get back there."

She ignored the last statement. "All right then…see you, maybe."

"You too." That said, he went off in the other direction, DemiAngemon and DemiSatamon not far behind.

"And good riddance," muttered Jonathan under his breath.

"Shut up, Cleese."

"Why?!"

"It doesn't do much for your character," said Chouwamon, looking straight ahead.

"Would you stay out of this?!"

"He _has_ got a point."

"Oh, be quiet…"

After a few minutes of back-and-forth bickering, they saw a glint ahead. At once Anne knew it was the portal they went through to get to the Digital World. Yet…it seemed _damaged_, somehow. It wasn't the same glimmer that it was when she first saw it; it seemed to glow a dull white, now.

"It's still intact," said Chouwamon, "but not for long. Come on, we need to hurry."

~

William leaned back in his chair. Nothing much had been happening. The count of incidents involving Digimon had been suddenly cut back. Now, there was next to zero. And none of them involved children, either. He puzzled over this. There had to be _some_ sort of catch.

Then he suspected that maybe…just maybe the children had traversed to the Digital World. It was a slim one, but it was a possibility. Maybe…maybe they had partner Digimon? He sighed. It was ages since he ever dug that theory up before. He was still young, in his late twenties, and although Digimon were created twenty years ago, it was only ten years before that Digimon were recreated as physical life forms. He'd made an early discovery of them, although originally, the only people who knew about the project was the Alliance—and the people working on the project, of course. But all the latter were dead. They had all been killed in an explosion. Now, he strongly suspected Digimon to be the cause. But which ones? The matter aggravated him to no end. Still, now that he was part of the Alliance, it didn't matter anymore.

He was right. It didn't exactly matter who did it. What mattered was if the one who did it was seeking revenge.

What also mattered was who or what it was seeking revenge on.

And yet, as he returned to the finer points of the anti-data barrier, he never quite realized all of the possibilities. Only the obvious ones. But those were not the important ones.

~

"Can somebody stop da universe, I wanna get off…"

Kamemon and Kyomon were lying dazed on the ground, in St. James Park. Anne sighed with relief. They'd made it back still in one piece. And she had a new partner, as well as Kamemon. At last, it was over, she thought. In a way, she was right.

In yet another, she was dead wrong.

~:~:~

Well? Ya like? Hmmmmmmm? I got all references to Thread, Threadfall, and Threadscores from the Dragonriders of Pern series, as I said ages ago… And now, I can finally get to work on Reptilia Draco 2. For anyone who cares, though, that's not going to be the actual title…I'm sorta leaning towards "Diamond Secrets", but if anyone has any ideas, then please include them in your REVIEW!! ^_^


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